▪ I. slater1
(ˈsleɪtə(r))
Also 5, Sc. 7–9 sclater, 5 Sc. sclatar(e; 6, Sc. 9 sklater, 6 Sc. sklaittar, skleattar; 6 slaiter.
[f. slate n.1 or v.1]
1. One whose work consists in laying slates.
| α 1408 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 137 In sal. Will. Fyscher sclater operantis et emendantis. 1488 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 89 To a sclatar for the poyntin of al the place off Stirling. 1561 Dunfermline Reg. (Bann. Cl.) 454 To ye sklaittar and his servandis. c 1600 Chester Pl., Banes 92 You wrightes and sklaters, with good players in showe. 1808 Jamieson Addit., Sclater. 1823 Galt Entail xlix, His sklater that pointed the skews o' the house. |
| β 1562–3 Act 5 Eliz. c. 4. §xxiii, Tharte or Occupation of a..Tyler, Slater, Healyer, Tilemaker. 1591 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees, 1860) 200 Thre slaiters and a boye. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 50 When some of the slates are broke, the Slater mends them with little charge. 1723 Lond. Gaz. No. 6222/9 Thomas Hookam,..Slater and Plasterer. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Builder 399 All quarry slates require this preparation from the slater. 1893 Earl Dunmore Pamirs I. 46 Silvery roofs..deftly fitted by some cunning slater. |
| attrib. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 241 A slater boy, dwelling in the village of Hamegecourt. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 196 The slater-work is then executed. |
2. A wood-louse.
Sc. and
north. dial.,
Austral., and
N.Z.| α 1684 Sibbald Scot. Illustr. ii. iii. vii. 33 Millepes Asellus, nostratibus the Sclater. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 361 He is also fond of eating sclaters. c 1873 G. Johnston in Hist. Berwick. Nat. Club (1876) VII. 32 ‘Sclaters’ were crawling on the paved floor. |
| β 1802 Eng. Encycl. V. 627/2 Millepedæ,..Wood-lice, hog-lice, or slaters. 1873 Dawson Earth & Man iii. 44 Modern slaters or wood-lice, which are not very distant relatives of these old crustaceans. 1876 Smiles Sc. Nat. vi. 97 Hosts of night-wandering insects,..slaters, centipedes and snails. 1951 J. Frame Lagoon 45 She collected things, slaters and earwigs and spiders. 1965 Austral. Encycl. IX. 349/2 The best-known isopods are the terrestrial forms commonly called wood-lice, slaters, carpenters, or sow-bugs. 1979 Sunday Mail Color Mag. (Brisbane) 23 Sept. 21/3 (Advt.), Snails slugs slaters millipedes. Now Baysol kills them all. |
3. A blade of slate or the like used for slating skins and hides.
| 1885 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather xxxii. 527 The ‘slater’ is a tool closely resembling a ‘slicker’; but the edge of the ‘slater’ is ground sharp. |
▪ II. † ˈslater2 Obs.—1 [f. slate v.3] (See
quot.)
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. iv. ii. (1862) I. 394 There are two varieties of this kind [the land-spaniel]; namely the slater, used in hawking to spring the game; and the setter, that crouches down when it scents the birds, till the net be drawn over them. |