▪ I. gaiter, n.1
(ˈgeɪtə(r))
[a. F. guêtre (in 15th c. guietre); of unknown origin; there are Rom. synonyms without r, as Walloon guett, Sardinian ghetta, mod.Pr. gueto: see Körting Lat. Rom. Wb. s.v.]
1. A covering of cloth, leather, etc. for the ankle, or ankle and lower leg.
| 1775 [cf. half-gaiter s.v. half II. l]. 1802 C. James Milit. Dict., Gaiters, a sort of spatterdashes, usually made of cloth, and are either long, as reaching to the knee, or short as only reaching just above the ancle; the latter are termed half-gaiters. 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr., Theatre 71 Lax in their gaiters, laxer in their gait. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xii, Mr. Weller was furnished with..light breeches and gaiters. 1865 ― Mut. Fr. i. v, Thick leather gaiters. 1880 Plain Knitting 19 Gaiters (i.e. legs of stockings without feet)..are very useful to those who are obliged to walk out in all weathers. 1886 Hall Caine Son of Hagar ii. xvi, Parson Christian stood near her in silk gaiters. |
2. U.S. (See quots.)
| 1864 Webster, Gaiter, 2 a kind of shoe, consisting chiefly of cloth, and covering the ankle. 1889 Century Dict., Gaiter, Now, also, a shoe of similar form, with or without cloth, generally with an insertion of elastic on each side. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as gaiter-maker, gaiter-strap; gaiter-boot, -shoe (orig. U.S.) = sense 2.
| 1840 Picayune (New Orleans) 30 July 2/4 Many of the ladies of Philadelphia..now wear..gaiter boots, with little straps of black leather. 1849 N. P. Willis Rural Lett. 230 Dandies strolling and stealing an occasional look at their loose demi-saison pantaloons and gaiter-shoes. 1862 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. ix. x. (1865) III. 152 From big guns and wagon-horses down to gun-flints and gaiter-straps. 1875 Mrs. Stowe We & Neighbors x. 106 Looking as if they never had heard of a French hat or a pair of gaiter-boots. 1894 Daily News 29 Dec. 3/6 Her husband was a gaiter maker. 1932 ‘A. Bridge’ Peking Picnic x. 111 Blue trousers tucked into high white gaiter boots. |
▪ II. ˈgaiter, n.2 Obs. exc. dial.
Forms: 1 gáte tréow, 4–5 gaitrys, gattris, gaytre, 6 gadrise, gaten(-tree), gater, (8 garter), 6–9 gatten, 7–9 gatt(e)ridge, gatter, gaiter.
[The OE. gáte tréow = goat's tree; but app. this has mixed with a synonym of which the OE. form, if it existed, would be *gáte hr{iacu}s (hr{iacu}s, rise, bush). The forms are partly northern, with (eː) for OE. á, and partly exhibit the vowel-shortening common in the first element of compounds.]
A name properly belonging to the Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), but in various districts applied to other similar shrubs, as the Spindle-tree (Euonymus europæus). Also attrib. in gaiter-berry, gaiter-bush, gaiter-tree.
| c 1000 Saxon Leechd. II. 86 Wiþ þære adl þe mon hæt circul adl, genim..gatetreow..wyl on wætre swiþe. c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 145 Laxatyues..Of catapuce, or of gaitrys [vrr. gaytres, gaytrys, gattris, gaytre] beryis. 1548 [see dog-tree 1]. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. li. 725 Dogge berie or Gatten tree. 1597 Gerarde Herball iii. cv. (1633) 1467 In the North Country they call it Gaten tree or Gater⁓tree. 1660 Ray Catalog. Plant. Cantab. 39 Cornus fœmina..Dogberry or Gatter tree. 1691 ― S. & E. Country Wds., Gatteridge-tree is Cornus fœmina, or Prickwood, and yet Gatteridge-berries are the Fruit of Euonymus Theofrasti, i.e. Spindle-tree or Louse-berry. 1692 Coles, Gaiter-berries, of the Gaiter-tree, prickwood. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 200 Cornus sanguinea..Gatten tree. Ibid. 259 Evonymus europæus..Gatteridge Tree. 1819 Crabbe T. of Hall vii. 158 Dwarf trees and humbler shrubs..Haw, gatter, holm, the service and the sloe. |
▪ III. gaiter, v.
(ˈgeɪtə(r))
[f. gaiter n.1]
trans. To dress or furnish with gaiters. Hence ˈgaitered ppl. a.
| 1760 Proceedings Crt.-martial Ld. G. Sackville 11 The Cavalry must be saddled; the Artillery-Horses harnessed, and the Infantry gatered. 1848 Craig, Gaiter, to dress with gaiters. 1852 Smedley L. Arundel xxviii. 230 A leather-gaitered and corduroyed Christian. 1892 Pall Mall G. 23 Sep. 6/2 The cocked-hatted and gaitered troops of the First Republic. |