▪ I. sewer, n.1
(ˈs(j)uːə(r))
Also 5 suer(e, 6 sewar, souer, 7 sewre, sure, 7 seward. See also syre, syver (Sc.; prob. unconnected), and shore n.4
[a. OF. (north-eastern) se(u)wiere channel to carry off overflow from a fishpond (latinized seweria, 1264 in Du Cange):—L. type *exaquāria (cf. med.L. exaquātōrium), f. *exaquāre (L. ex- out + aqua water), whence OF. essever to drain off, with which are connected OF. essevour, -eur, esseouer, essouere drain, ditch. (For the phonology cf. ewer.)
Until the 16th c. chiefly in legal formulæ as representing the earlier Anglo-Latin sewera or Anglo-Fr. sewer(e.]
1. An artificial watercourse for draining marshy land and carrying off surface water into a river or the sea. Also water-sewer.
| [1299 Memoranda LTR 26 & 27 Edw. I, m. 51 (Public Rec. Office), Per defectum reparacionis Walliarum Water⁓gangarum et Sewerarum contra impetum fluctuum aque Humbrie.] 1402–3 [see sewer-gate in 5]. 1461 Rolls of Parlt. V. 493/1 For Sewers, Walles of Mersshes, Dyches, Gutters. 1482 Ibid. VI. 210 Makyng of Sewers for avoidyng of lake waters. 1543 in Lett. & Pap. Hen. VIII, XVIII. ii. 118 For skoryn of a water souer. 1610 N. Riding Rec. I. 200 Tho. Skarth of Carlton in Cleveland, theldest, [presented] for stopping of the water-sewer upon the West Shortflatt. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxv. 5 One general sewer which seemeth to divide Low Holland from the high. 1833 Act 3 & 4 Will. IV, c. 22 §22 It shall..be lawful for the Occupier..of Land..adjoining to any..Sewer..to take..such Gravel, Soil,..and Weeds. |
| transf. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 187 The great ryuer of Wharfe, which is the great sewer of y⊇ broke, and of all the water comyng from Towton. |
2. a. An artificial channel or conduit, now usually covered and underground, for carrying off and discharging waste water and the refuse from houses and towns. common sewer: a drain through which all or a large part of the sewage of a town passes, a main drain collecting and discharging the contents of auxiliary drains. Cf. shore n.2
The development of this sense (c 1600) is prob. due to the fact that the drainage of towns near tidal rivers had come under the control of the commissioners of sewers. See Act 3 Jas. I, c. 14 (1606).
Technically, ‘sewer’ is distinguished from ‘drain’, the latter being restricted to channels used ‘for the Drainage of one Building only or Premises within the same Curtilage’ (Act. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 112 §147).
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. i. 83 Ther. Sweet draught: sweet quoth-a? sweet sinke, sweet sure. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 423 A sewer within the ground to ridde away filth. 1611 Cotgr., Gesse, a common sinke or sewer. 1619 Drayton Bar. Wars v. xli, Vnder whose Floore, the common Sewer past Vp to the same, a loathsome stench that cast. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. ii. 387 It was no noysome Ayre, no Sewre or Stinke. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 446 As one who long in populous City pent, Where Houses thick and Sewers annoy the Aire. 1684 I. Peter Siege of Vienna 42 Some Men were discovered in the Common-Sewer. 1739 C. Labelye Westm. Bridge 72 Drains or Sewers discharging themselves into a small Arch. 1834 Rep. Sel. Comm. Metrop. Sewers 136 Open and Covered Sewers built within the Ranelagh Level. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 389 Fleet Ditch, which was perhaps the first main sewer of London. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 713/1 For small sewers, circular pipes of glazed earthenware..are used, from 6 inches to 18 inches in diameter... Where the capacity of an 18-inch circular pipe would be insufficient, built sewers are used in place of earthenware pipes. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. iv. 16 This Island hath from time to time been no other than as a sewer to empty the superfluity of the German Nations. 1738 Johnson London 94 London! the needy villain's general home, The common sewer of Paris, and of Rome. 1765 Falconer Demag. 240 His black entrails, faction's common sewer. 1859 Tennyson Enid 39 A territory Wherein were bandit earls,..Assassins..this common sewer of all his realm. 1884 Mrs. C. Praed Zero ix, The moral sewer of Europe. 1945 N. Mitford Pursuit of Love vii. 56 Who is that sewer with Linda? |
3. Law. a. Commission of Sewers: (a) a royal commission issued to a number of persons (hence called Commissioners of Sewers) constituting them a temporary court with authority for the repair and maintenance of ‘walls, ditches, banks, gutters, sewers, gotes, causeys, bridges, streams and other defences by the coasts of the sea and marsh ground lying and being within the limits of’ a specified district liable to inundation from the sea or rivers; also, the body of commissioners of sewers for a district; (b) a body of municipal officers (abolished by Act 60 & 61 Vict. c. 133, 1897) who were responsible for the control of the ‘sewers’ (sense 2) in the City of London; these officers were first appointed in pursuance of the Act 19 Chas. II, c. 8 (1667), and were invested with the title and jurisdiction of commissioners of sewers by the Act 7 Anne, c. 32 (1708).
The term ‘Commission of Sewers’ (AF. Commission de Sewerez, de Sewers) occurs first in 1427 (Rolls of Parlt. IV. 333/1 and Act 6 Hen. V, c. 5), but the issue of similar commissions is recorded in 1314 (Rolls of Parlt. I. 319/1) and in 1322 (Placit. Abbrev. 339/1).
| 1444 Rolls of Parlt. V. 109/1 Hit was ordeyned..that by x yere then next folwyng, severals Commissions of Sewers shuld be made unto divers persones. 1504 in Leadam Sel. Cases Crt. Requests (Selden Soc.) 9 The kynges Commyssioners of Sewers. c 1530 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. II. 227 One of the Kyngs Commysioners of Sewers. 1531–2 Act 23 Hen. VIII, c. 5 §2 The authoritie to you yoven by the Commission of Sewers. 1622 Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 135 If a Collector or Officer of Sewers do distrain a man, or do any other act contrary to an Inhibition of Sewers to him directed by the Commissioners of Sewers. 1623 Bacon Ordin. Chancery §94 (1642) 20 The Commission of Sewards. 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4442/4 The Commissioners of Sewers for the Levels of Havering and Dagenham. 1833 Act 3 & 4 Will. IV, c. 22 §60 The Words ‘Court’ and ‘Court of Sewers’..shall..be deemed to mean every Court..of any Six or more Commissioners of Sewers.. named in any Commission of Sewers. 1848 Act 11 & 12 Vict. c. 112 §3 The Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers. 1881 Ann. Local Taxation Returns 112 Monies Raised and Expended by Commissioners of Sewers during the Year last ended. |
b. law of sewers: a local law relating to embankment and draining. Statute of Sewers: the Act 23 Hen. VIII, c. 5, relating to the issuing of Commissions of Sewers. † work of sewers: any of the works of defence against floods (e.g. a sea-wall, ditch, bank, gutter, sewer, etc.) to which commissions of sewers relate.
| 1571 Act 13 Eliz. c. 9 §3 Concerning the execution of any suche Lawes Ordynaunces and Constitutions of Sewers. 1605–6 Act 3 Jas. I, c. 14 The saide Statute of Sewers [23 Hen. VIII, c. 5]. 1622 Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 133 If one oppose against a Law of Sewers. Ibid. 138 If one do suffer a Wall, Bank, or other work of Sewers to fall into decay for want of repairing. 1661 N. N. Narrative Drain. Fens in Arb. Garner I. 317 A Law of Sewers made at Saint Ives. 1835 Tomlins' Law Dict., Romney-marsh. A large tract of land in the county of Kent..which is governed by certain..laws of sewers. |
4. Ellipt. for: Commissioner of Sewers. Obs. exc. Hist.
| 1616 Bullokar Eng. Expos., Sewer..one that hath authoritie to ouerlooke water courses. 1641 Termes de la Ley 247 The Sewers are Commissioners that sit by vertue of their Commission and authority grounded upon divers statutes, to enquire of all nusances and offences committed by the stopping of rivers [etc.]. 1675 Ashmole Mem. (1717) 53 This Morning a Jury of Sewers set out my Brick Wall made towards the High-way. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Clerk of the Sewers, an Officer belonging to the Commissioners of Sewers, who writes down all Things they do, by virtue of their Commission. 1901 N. & Q. Ser. ix. VII. 436 Some of the family were ‘sewers’ of Wisbech. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as sewer-assessment, sewer authority, sewer-ditch, sewer grating, † sewer law (see 3 b), sewer-man, sewer-rate, sewer-scent, sewer-stench, sewer-water; sewer-air, -gas, atmospheric air mixed with gas formed by the decomposition of sewage; sewer-block, a stoneware brick used for building the walls of sewers; † sewer-gate, a floodgate at the mouth of a drain or water-course; sewer-heading (see heading vbl. n. 11); sewer-hunter, one who searches sewers; sewer lagoon U.S. = sewage lagoon s.v. sewage n. 3; sewer line U.S., a pipeline that is a sewer; sewer-rat, the brown rat (Mus decumanus) common in sewers and drains.
| 1861 F. Nightingale Nursing ii. (ed. 2) 23 A stream of *sewer air coming up the back staircase of a grand London house from the sink. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 313 Similar symptoms may follow poisoning by sewer air, if this be concentrated. |
| 1814 Regent's Park 72 He misunderstood the nature of the *sewer assessments. |
| 1893 Daily News 25 Nov. 5/1 The Corporation..are at once the *sewer authority and the road authority. |
| 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 50/1 Sanitary stoneware..including drain-pipes..*sewer-blocks [etc.]. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 390 Open *sewer-ditches, into which drains were emptied. |
| 1849 in E. R. Pike Human Docs. Victorian Golden Age (1967) 276 These gases, which so many people are daily inhaling..are identically the same in nature with..*sewer-gas. 1870 Corfield Treatm. Sewage 174 It would be difficult to imagine a more ingenious method for delivering sewer gases at high pressure into houses than the one above described. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 716/1 The corrosive action of sewer gas. |
| 1402–3 Doc. New Romney, [An entry about new gates to the sluice of the] *suergate. |
| 1897 W. Rye Norfolk Songs 42 He cut his wife up into small pieces and dropped her down *sewer gratings. |
| 1890 Hardwicke's Sci. Gossip XXVI. 236/2 Note on a Boulder met with in driving a *Sewer-Heading in Liverpool. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 151 The *sewer-hunters usually go in gangs of three or four for the sake of company. |
| 1959 Washington Post 31 Oct. b1/5 To construct the outfall line to the location of the *sewer lagoons would require trenches in excess of 25 feet. |
| 1785 J. Phillips Treat. Inland Navig. 40 The works done in pursuance of this Act, not to be subject to the *sewer-laws. |
| 1977 It May 6/3 (caption) Rosselli and his back-up man went down a manhole behind the fence..and followed the *sewer-line away from Dealey Plaza. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 383 Of the *Sewermen and Nightmen of London. |
| Ibid. (1861) II. 431/1 The *sewer-rat is..said by the Jacobites to have come in with the first George. 1888 Wood Farmer's Friends 23 Sewer⁓rats, of course, are to some extent beneficial. |
| 1823 Rep. Sel. Comm. Sewers Metrop. 15 Laying a *sewer rate over the whole district. 1848 Act 11 & 12 Vict. c. 112 §77 Every District Sewers Rate to be made under this Act. |
| 1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 54 And it's funny my dear young men, that you in your twenties should love the *sewer scent Of obscenity. |
| Ibid., A vapour of rottenness out of their mouths, like *sewer-stench wreathing. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1864) II. 463, I..regard the Thames in the neighbourhood of the metropolis as nothing less than diluted *sewer-water. |
[Note.—In the collocations ‘Commission of sewers’, ‘works of sewers’, etc., the word had virtually a much wider meaning than sense 1 above; it practically denotes any means of defence against inundation from the sea. The formula enumerating the things placed under the control of the commissioners begins with ‘walls’ (1322 more fully ‘sea-walls’, murorum maritimorum) and mentions ‘sewers’ only in the fifth or sixth place. This had already attracted the attention of lawyers early in the 17th c.; in 1622 Callis (Stat. Sewers, ed. 1647, p. 57) states that ‘some compound the word of sea and were’ (= weir, defence). Although sense 1 is certainly genuine, and the etymology stated at the head of this article is well established, it seems not impossible that there may have been some early confusion with a native compound of the formation suggested by the writers referred to by Callis. No instance of OE. *sǽ-wer, however, is known; a (? plural) sǽ-wǽre, of obscure meaning, occurs a.d. 1045 (Kemble Cod. Dipl. No. 776): ‘Se iᵹᵹað æt portes bricge & healfe sæ-wære & se mylnstede æt Mannæs bricge.’ The Anglo-Latin derived verb sewerare (1314 in Rolls of Parlt. I. 319/1) appears to mean ‘to protect from flood’.
The pseudo-etymological spelling seward (quot. 1623 in 3) is noteworthy. Skinner (Etymol. 1671, s.v.) erroneously attributes to Minsheu the statement that the word ‘was formerly written seward, perhaps from seaward, either because they [sc. sewers] are made towards the sea, or because they ward off the sea’.]
▪ II. sewer, n.2 Now only Hist.
(ˈsjuːə(r))
Forms: α. 4–6 sewere, 4–7 sewar, 5 seware, ceware, 5–6 sever, 6 sawere, 7 sewre, 4– sewer; β. 6 shewere, shower, 6–7 shewer.
[aphetic a. AF. asseour, f. OF. asseoir to cause to sit, seat:—L. assidēre, f. ad- + sedēre to sit. assewer (q.v.) is not recorded so early as the aphetic form. The β-forms are assimilated to shew, show.]
An attendant at a meal who superintended the arrangement of the table, the seating of the guests, and the tasting and serving of the dishes.
Down to the 15th c. it was the designation of an officer of the Royal Household; it survived somewhat later as the title of a ceremonial office at coronations.
| α 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 639 As sewer in a god assyse he serued hem fayre, Wyth sadde semblaunt & swete of such as he hade. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 251 Olyver, cheef sewere of þe kynges bord. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 67/2 Ceware at mete. 1447–50 Q. Marg. Lett. (Camden) 97 Oure trusty and welbeloved Squier Thomas Burneby, sewer of our mouth. 1464 Rolls of Parlt. V. 535/2 Oure Servaunt William Wade, Squier, Sewer of oure Chambre. 15.. in W. Jones Crowns & Coronat. (1883) 119 [At the coronation of Elizabeth, queen of Henry VII, 1487] the lorde Fitz-water, sewer, or dapifer, attended.. and served the messes. 15.. Bk. Precedence in Q. Eliz. Acad. 17 A viscount..may haue Caruer and Sewer, with there Towells, when they sett there seruisse on the table. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. vii. Stage Direct., Enter a Sewer, and diuers Seruants with Dishes and Seruice ouer the Stage. 1637 N. Whiting Albino & Bellama 129 The dropsied Host, like to a Sewre did strut To marshall every dish. 1669 E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. (ed. 2) 257 The Sewers of the Chamber are 8. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 23 Apr. 1661, Gent. Ushers, Daily Waiters, Sewers, Carvers. 1791 Cowper Odyss. i. 178 The sewer with savoury meats Dish after dish, served them. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xvii, Let the master of my lord's household see that both clerk and sewer taste the dishes which the one dresses and the other serves. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. iv. 168 note, Atholl performed the part of sewer, and Morton of carver. |
| β 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xxxi. 36 b/1 Sir yuan of Leschell was shewer and sir Gracyen bare his cuppe. 1533 More Answ. poysoned Bk. Wks. 1036/2, I beshrew such a shewer as so serueth in the supper, that he conueieth away the best dysh. 1553 Rutland Papers (Camden) 119 Therle of Sussex claymethe to be shewer at dyner the daye of the coronacion. 1565 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 204 Athall shower, Morton carvar, Crayforde cupbearer. 1602 W. S. Life Cromwell iv. iv. Stage Direct., Enter the Vsher and the Shewer, the meate goes ouer the Stage. |
b. fig. and in fig. context.
| 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. iii. lviii, His maister sewar hecht verteous discipline. 1641 Milton Animadv. 7 It shew'd but green practise..to blurt upon the eares of a judicious Parliament with such a presumptuous and over-weening Proem: but you doe well to be the Sewer of your owne messe. 1649 ― Eikon. xxiv. 192 Som such place, as may stile them the Sewers, or the Yeomen Ushers of Devotion. |
▪ III. sewer, n.3
(ˈsəʊə(r))
Forms: 4–5 sower, 5 sawer, 7 shewer, 5, 8– sewer.
[f. sew v.1 + -er1.]
One who sews.
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 165 Seuene goode sowers sixe wekes after Moun not sett þe seemes ne sewe hem aȝeyn. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 795/21 Hec sutrix, a sewer. 1481 in Eng. Gilds 314 That no man of the forsayde crafte [of tailors] set no new sawer a-warcke a-bofe the spasse of xv. days. 1483 Cath. Angl. 331/2 A Sewer, filator, sutor, sutrix. 1652 in Beck Gloves (1883) 152 [The Craft] ordains every boy and fial to take such work from his Master as his shewers cast. 1755 Johnson, Sewer..He that uses a needle. 1870 Echo 30 Dec. The sewer has it placed on a long table round which she travels, stitching as she goes. 1880 J. W. Zaehnsdorf Bookbinding 21 It will be better if the cords are a little to the right of the press, so that the sewer may get her or his left arm to rest better on the press. 1891 E. Peacock N. Brendon II. 108 She was not only a neat sewer, but could cut out men's shirts. |
▪ IV. sewer, v.1
(ˈs(j)uːə(r))
Also 6 sewar.
[f. sewer n.1]
† 1. trans. To drain. Obs.
| 1565 in Arch. Cantiana XIII. 269 A cricke, or water⁓wey, sewared or dryed upp. |
2. To furnish (a town, road, etc.) with a system of sewers. Hence ˈsewering vbl. n.
| 1854 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. i. 155 These towns have been sewered under the improved system. 1865 3rd Rep. Comm. Sewage of Towns 210 The sewering of towns on correct principles ought to be promoted, so as to ensure cleanliness, comfort, and health. 1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 9 July 2/1 In some of the southern cities of America..sewering, draining, and scavenging have brought about great improvement. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. ii. li. II. 287 To grade, pave, and sewer streets. |
▪ V. † ˈsewer, v.2 Obs. rare.
[f. sewer n.2]
intr. To act as sewer at a meal.
| c 1553 in Grose Antiq. Rep. (1809) IV. 652 A Gent. to sewerer yf they were not otherwise occupyed in the Q. busynesse. 1623 Minsheu Sp. Dict., To Sewer or taste before, vide Hazer salva. a 1641 Sir J. Finett Observ. (1656) 156 His assertion was not followed for the better convenience of the said Officers carving and sewering. 1647 Hexham ii, To Sewer, Voor-smaecken, voor-tasten. |
▪ VI. sewer
obs. form of sure.