▪ I. causer1
(ˈkɔːzə(r))
Also 5–6 cawser.
[f. cause v.1 + -er1.]
He who or that which causes; the agent by whom or which an effect is produced. † First Causer: God. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Moder of God 12 Causer of pees, stynter of wo & stryf. c 1420 Hoccleve To Dk. York 62 Out upon pryde, causer of my wo! 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (1531) 2 b, Who was þe fyrst causer of all thynges. 1538 Leland Itin. VIII. 30 Olde Erle Thomas..was Cawser that new Quier of the Collegiate Churche..was newly reedified. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 190 b, It is a causer of sweete and pleasant sleepes. 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 1 Neither are Tartarous humours the causers or Patrons of infirmities. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VII. lxxxix. 383 Thou the causer of all these shocking scenes! 1821 Byron Sardan. ii. i. 309 Bel. I trust there is no cause. Sar. No cause, perhaps, But many causers. 1866 J. Murphy Comm. Ex. xv. 2 Jehovah is..the constant Causer of all effects. |
▪ II. † causer2, cawser Obs.
[Can this be f. cause, causey, as if a paviour's hammer or mall?
The W. Cornwall Gloss. has ‘cos'send, cos'sened, hammered into shape’; but it is difficult to see any connexion.]
| c 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 589, Incussorium, a causer, quidam malleolus est. c 1450 Metr. Voc. ibid. 627, Incussoria, cawser. |