▪ I. leister
(ˈliːstə(r))
Also 6 leyster, 6, 9 lister, 7–8 leester, 9 liester.
[a. ON. lióstr (Norw. dial. lioster, Sw. ljuster, Da. lyster), f. liósta str. vb., to strike.]
A pronged spear for striking and taking fish, chiefly salmon.
| 1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 7 No..person..shal..take..in..any..crele, raw web, lister, fier, or any other engine..the yonge frie..of any kinde of salmon. 1551 Turner Herbal i. F vj, Their leysters or sammon speres. 1638 N. Riding Rec. IV. 101 A yeoman presented for that he did kill..with a certain engine called a leister much salmon. 1785 Burns Death Dr. Hornbook vi, A three-taed leister. 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge xi, [He] came running up the stairs with a salmon lister in one hand. 1843 W. Scrope Salmon Fish. Tweed xi. 239 The men..wielding their long leisters. 1895 Chamb. Jrnl. XII. 753/2 Celebrated..as a poacher and as a great hand at the leister in autumn. |
b. Comb., as leister grain; leister-shaped adj.
| 1634 Acts Durham High Comm. Crt. (Surtees) 102 Did see Mr. Haslehead take upp the leester graines and throw them awaie. 1863 Atkinson Stanton Grange (1864) 23 Rather leister-shaped in construction, with five barbed prongs. |
▪ II. ˈleister, v.
[f. leister n.]
trans. To spear with a leister.
| 1834 Hogg Dom. Mann. Scott (1882) 11 He [Scott] and Skene of Rubislaw, and I were out one night about mid⁓night, leistering kippers in Tweed. 1861 J. Brown Horæ Subs. II. 243 The poaching weaver who had the night before leistered a prime kipper. 1881 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 530 They burned the water and leistered the salmon. |
Hence ˈleistering vbl. n. Also ˈleisterer.
| 1843 W. Scrope Salmon Fish. Tweed xi. 237 The side on which the leisterers strike the fish. 1867 Times 30 Dec. 9/6 Conviction of Salmon Leisterers. Ibid., The process of salmon leistering by night with the aid of torch and spear. |