▪ I. stower, n.1 Obs. exc. dial.
(ˈstaʊə(r))
Forms: 4 sture, 4–5 store, 4–5, 9 stoure, 5 staure, stourre, 5–9 stowre, 6 stoowre, stowir, 6–9 stour, 8 stowr, 7– stower.
[a. ON. staur-r, stake.]
1. A stake, hedge-stake; a pale; a pole, post. stower-and-daub: = wattle and daub (see daub n.1) † stick and stower (stour): see stick n.1 3 c.
| 1371 in Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees) 355 Uni homini amputanti stoures..pro parietibus domorum..per diem, 4 d. 1374 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 238 Dormannes giystes et etiam stures cum pertinenciis pro mediis parietibus in dictis cameris sub et supra. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xix. (Christopher) 224 Þane in his hand he hynt his store. 1417–18 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 302 Pro staures emptis pro shepehekkys apud le Holme, 16 d. c 1420 Avow. Arth. vii, Butte sette my head opon a store, Butte giffe he flaey ȝo alle fawre. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 158 He gatt hym a stowre, & gnew vppon þe tone end & made it sharpe with his tethe, & þrustid hym selfe evyn thrugh þerwith. 1481–2 in Finchale Priory Charters etc. (Surtees) p. ccclv, Et in stowrys et virgis emptis pro eodem, xvj{supd}. 1513 Douglas æneis ix. viii. 149 Apon a speyr, Or heich sting or stour of the fyr tre. 1674 Ray N.C. Words 45 A Stowre,..a hedge-stake. 1792 Statist. Acc. Scot. II. 16 Pock-net fishing..is performed by fixing stakes or stours (as they are called) in the sand. 1798 Sporting Mag. XII. 166 Cut from thence a certain number of stakes and stowers. |
2. Each of the upright staves in the side of a wagon.
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 35 Wee sende worde to the wright to come and see that the axle-trees and felfes of the waines bee sownde..and likewise to putte in stowers wheare any are wantinge. 1691 Ray N.C. Words (ed. 2) 70. |
3. A rung of a ladder.
| 1674 Ray N.C. Words 45 Stowre, a round of a ladder. |
4. A punt-pole.
| 1777 in C. W. Hatfield Hist. Notices Doncaster (1866) I. 194 Five men, with long ‘stowers’ and boat hooks were placed at St. Mary's. 1822 T. Bewick Mem. ii. (1862) 18 We then set to work with a ‘boat-stower’ to push it [a piece of ice] off shore. 1889 Linc. Chron. 16 Nov. (E.D.D.), Deceased had hold of the stower, and pushed the boat off. |
5. Naut. (See quot.)
| 1863 A. Young Naut. Dict. 449 Wrain-staff, Wrung-staff, or ‘Dwang-staff’, also called a Stower, or Twisting-staff, a sort of stout billet of tough wood tapered at the ends so as to go into the ring of the wrain-bolt for the purpose of setting-to the planks. |
▪ II. stower, n.2
(ˈstəʊə(r))
Also dial. stowyer.
[f. stow v.1 + -er1.]
One who stows; one who stows a ship, a stevedore; one of a fishing crew whose work is to stow the net; a miner whose work is to pack up stone.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine ii. (1780), Arrimeur, a stower. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. Stowage, The stower seldom consults the specialities of the vessel's construction. 1886 Newcastle Daily Chron. 23 Nov. (E.D.D.), The packing is done by a class of men called stowers. 1892 P. H. Emerson Son of Fens vii. 64 Go down into the net⁓room where the stowyer get it and stow it up. 1906 Dundee Advertiser 28 May, A Lochee woman,..wife of a stower residing in South Road. |
▪ III. † stower, v.
[f. stower n.1]
trans. To fence with stakes; ? intr. to fix stakes. Hence stowering vbl. n. (in quots. attrib.).
| c 1555 R. Troughton in Archæologia XXIII. 23 A Comon wateryng place ther called Hedgedyke, late stowered for Catall to drynke at. Ibid., I..asked of hyme howe he liked the newe stowered wateryng place. 1557–8 in R. W. Goulding Louth Old Corpor. Rec. (1891) 109 It. for dī hundreth of tray nailles & dī c of stowring nailles, ij{supd}. 1611–12 Knaresb. Wills (Surtees) II. 34 One stowering womble. |
▪ IV. stower
see stour, stover n.