▪ I. † ˈatter, n. Obs. or dial.
Forms: 1 átr, átor, attor, ættor, 1–6 ater, 1–9 atter; also 3 atterr, 4 attere, 4–5 attur, hoter, 5 hatter, 5–6 attir, 5–7 attyr, 6 atir, etter.
[Common Teut.: with OE. átr, átor, attor, cf. OHG. eitar, eittar, mod.G. eiter, OS. êtar, ON. eitr, (Sw. etter, Da. edder,) Du. eyter, etter. The original long vowel (giving ME. ōter) has been irregularly shortened in Eng., as also in other of the modern languages.]
† 1. Poison, venom, esp. that of reptiles. Obs.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 112 Wiþ fleoᵹendum atre & ælcum æternum swile. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 169 Atter meind mid wine. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 256 And alle þe oþer..en⁓uenymeþ þorgh his attere. c 1400 Destr. Troy iii. 920 And withdroghe the deire of his dere attur. |
| fig. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 75 Þan deþliche atter þet þe alde deouel blou on Adam. c 1230 Ancr. R. 80 Habbeð wlatunge of þe muðe þet speoweð ut atter. |
† 2. Gall; fig. bitterness. Obs.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 141, Corpus 297, Bile, átr. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 23 A lutel ater bitteret muchele swete. c 1320 Cast. Loue 1150 Atter heo him dude to drinke i-meynt w{supt} eisil. c 1430 Hymns to Virg. (1867) 24, I may drede at my departynge Þat it wole be attir & ille. |
3. Corrupt matter, pus, from a sore, ulcer, abscess, etc. Still in Sc. and north. dial.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. vii. (1495) 90 Vnkynde blood and hoter. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 326/1 Of kyrnellys and botches of his face..ranne grete plente of blood and atter. 1535 Coverdale Job ii. 7 And scraped of the etter off his sores with a potsherde. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 422 Ears that run attyr. 1643 Horn & Robotham Gate Lang. Unl. xxv. §318 A green wound..rotted into a gory venemous atter. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss., Atter or Atteril, the matter of a sore..The tongue is said to be covered with ‘a dry white atter,’ when furred with fever. |
▪ II. † ˈatter, v. Obs.
[OE. ǽtrian, ættrian, f. prec.]
1. To poison, envenom. Also fig.
| c 885 K. ælfred Oros. iii. ix. §18 For ᵹeǽtredum ᵹescótum. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 75 Hore loking..hore smelling, heore feling was al iattret. c 1230 Ancr. R. 84 Oðer speche soileð..ac þeos attreð þe heorte & te earen boðe. |
2. To mix with gall, embitter.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy vi. 2286 Or all so myght aunter to atter for euer. |
▪ III. atter
obsolete form of otter.