trotter
(ˈtrɒtə(r))
[f. trot v. + -er1; cf. med.L. trotārius (Du Cange), OF. trotier (Godef.).]
1. A horse (or other quadruped) which trots; spec. a horse especially bred and trained to the trot.
| 1381–2 [see 6]. 1391–2 Earl Derby's Exped. (Camden) 143 Pro duobus equis trotters cum duabus sellis per ipsum emptis. 1452 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) III. 137, j equi basii, trotter, xs. 1592 Greene Maiden's Dream Wks. (Rtldg.) 279/1 His stable full of coursers.., Trotters whose manag'd looks would some affright. 1679 Lond. Gaz. No. 1412/4 A black brown Gelding about 15 hands,..a Trotter only. 1776 Pennsylv. Even. Post 26 Mar. 154/2 A Dark Brown Coloured Horse..a natural trotter. 1812 Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 31 A trotter constantly habituated to that pace. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. ii, Compare the racer with the trotter. 1890 W. P. Lett in Big Game N. Amer. 88 The Caribou is the champion trotter of America. 1898 Doyle Trag. Korosko v. 110 Most of them [camels] were beautiful creatures, true Arabian trotters. |
b. A trotting-cart, a sulky.
| 1902 Times 4 Apr. 9/6 He would come up in the morning in his ‘trotter’. |
2. One who moves or goes about briskly and constantly; see
trot v. 2.
spec. (
University slang) a tailor's assistant who goes round for orders; also, a tailor's, dressmaker's, or milliner's girl messenger; at
Dublin University, one who goes to Dublin for a degree, without residence (
cf. term-trotter, at Oxford: see
term n. 17); at
Durham University, a day-student (
cf. trot v. 2). (
N.E.D.)
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 140 Neede makth tholde wyfe trot: is she a trotter now? 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Gaste-pavé, a trotter vpon the pauements, a walker by the streets. 1605 Tryall Chev. ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 288 And this trotter is my ryval and loves Thomasin. 1765 Foote Commissary i. Wks. 1799 II. 17 That eternal trotter after all the little draggle-tail'd girls of town. 1860 Slang Dict., Trotter, a tailor's man who goes round for orders. University. 1883 Durham Univ. Jrnl. 17 Dec. 141 We suspect that the ingenious inventor of the name ‘trotter’ was well aware that the name had a ridiculous sound. 1897 Daily News 23 Feb. 3/1 She was a Trotter..she trotted to and fro between the East and the West, with patterns to match—silks, stuffs, and so on. |
3. Usually
pl. The feet of a quadruped,
esp. those of sheep and pigs as used for food; also
humorously, the feet of a human being.
(Quot.
c 1358 doubtfully belongs here.)
| [c 1358 in Eng. Hist. Rev. Oct. (1909) 742 Item in duro pisce frisc. v{supd} o. Item in trotters viij{supd}.] 1522 Skelton Why not to Court 908 The chefe of your fayre Myght stand nowe by potters, And suche as sell trotters. c 1550 Lacy Wyl Buck's Test. (Halliw.) 58 For to make the Trotters of the Bucke. Take the foure fete, and skalde them [etc.]..and that ben the trotters. 1602 Carew Cornwall i. 24 Not the dammes Foale, but the dames Trotters, be trusted vnto. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 174 He steales the sheepe; and gives the Trotters for Gods sake. a 1650 Anc. Poems, etc. (Percy Soc.) 164 Two calves' feet, and a bull's trotter. 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. Pref., Finding out that some bald pated drone of a monk laid up his useless trotters in the corner of his Abbey, about 500 years ago. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 309 They will fasten the paws and trotters of panthers, bears, and buffalos, to their feet and hands. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 158/2 For supper there is a sandwich, a meat pudding, or a ‘trotter’. 1872 M. Jewry Every-day Cookery 72/2 Perfectly cleanse and blanch the trotters. |
4. See
quot.| 1864 Daily Tel. 18 May, ‘The..trotters’—fishermen who..trot for whelks to sell as bait to the North Sea cod⁓smacks. |
5. One who trots another out in conversation: see
trot v. 4 c.
6. attrib. and
Comb., as
trotter-bone,
trotter-girl (see sense 2),
† trotter-saddle,
trotter-stall;
trotter-boiler, one whose business is to treat the hoofs of animals by boiling;
trotter-cases n. pl., boots or shoes (
slang);
trotter-pie: see
quot.;
trotter skirt (see also
trotteur), a short, neat walking skirt.
| 1883 R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 301/1 Some [glue-making materials] that come from the *trotter-boilers..have been limed already. |
| 1799 G. Smith Laboratory II. 407 Take *trotter-bones; calcine and beat them to a fine powder, wherewith rub the spots on both sides. 1869 Daily News 23 Aug., The original floor..was laid with ‘trotter bones’,..closely packed and driven into the ground to the depth of from three to four inches. |
| 1821 Hood Sent. Journ. Wks. 1862 I. 34 A young gentleman in very tight *trotter-cases,..his feet gave evident signs of suffering. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xviii, ‘Japanning his trotter-cases’..rendered into plain English signifieth, cleaning his boots. |
| 1903 Westm. Gaz. 10 Aug. 10/1 The streets of Soho are unusually quiet; the *trotter girl, with her bundle of coats or trousers, is almost a curiosity. |
| a 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xviii. 151 We were..eating a Bushel of *Trotter-pies [orig. goudiveaulx (see Cotgr.)]. |
| 1381–2 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 592 Pro reparacione j *trottersadill. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 15 Feb. 5/3 A..gown..for roller skating or merely for walking [with] a *trotter skirt. |
| 1595 Enq. Tripe-wife (1881) 148 Since I trotted from my *trotter stall, And figd about from neates feete neatly drest: I finde no pleasure nor content at all. |
Hence
ˈtrotteress (
nonce-wd.), a female trotter (in
globe-trotteress:
cf. globe-trotter s.v. globe n. 10 b).
| 1892 M. North Recoll. Happy Life (ed. 2) II. 213 Lady A. joined our three pairs of hands and blessed us—‘Three globe trotteresses all at once!’ |