thrower
(ˈθrəʊə(r))
Also 5– Sc. and north. dial. thrawer.
[f. throw v.1 + -er1.]
One who throws, in various senses.
I. 1. One who fashions something by a rotary motion. † a. One who fashions wooden objects on a lathe; a turner. Obs.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 385/1 A Thrawer, tornator. 1620 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 243 P'd to the thrower for the chessotts making. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 269/2 A Turners, or Throwers Tools. |
b. One who shapes pottery on a potter's wheel or throw; a potter.
| 1604 [see throw v.1 6 a]. 1744 Indenture J. Wedgwood in Eliza Meteyard Life (1865) I. 222 To Learn his Art Mistery Occupation or Imployment of Thrower and Handleing which he the said Thomas Wedgwood now useth. 1790 in Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (1859) 98 About 90 painters..and about 200 throwers, turners, &c., were employed under one roof. 1881 Guide Worcester Porcel. Wks. (1906) 19 The man who works at the potter's wheel is called the thrower. 1894 Smiles Wedgwood iii. 22 The thrower is the person who sits in his shed, near the potter's wheel, and forms by hand from the moist clay as it revolves, the crock, the butter pot, the porringer or other such wares. 1903 Daily Rec. & Mail 1 July 4 The Potter's Wheel..is made of ash, and the thrower works upon it now in the same way as did the thrower thousands of years ago in Egypt. |
c. One who twists filaments of silk into silk thread; a throwster.
| 1621 in Strype Stow's Surv. v. xiv. (1754) II. 321/1 To take Hearing and Consideration of the Petition of the Silk⁓throwers. 1662 Act 14 Chas. II, c. 15 §5 There is a necessity lying upon the Silke throwers to deliver to theire Winders or Doublers considerable quantities of silke which being of good value is..many times..deceitfully and falsly purloined..to the great damage and sometimes the utter undoing of the Thrower whoe employes the said persons. |
† 2. (In form thrawer.) One who twists, wrests, or perverts; a perverter of the sense. Sc. rare—1.
| 1563 Davidson Confut. Kennedy in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844) 229, I wald we war judgit, quhidder we be thrawers of the Scripturs. |
II. 3. a. One who (or that which) casts, hurls, flings, or pitches: see the senses of throw v.1 II–V.
| 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 253 b, Come nat vpon that horsebacke: for he is a great throware. 1552 Huloet, Thrower of a stone with a hole therin for exercise, discobolus. 1579–80 North Plutarch (1676) 173 Throwers with slings, Archers, and other light armed men. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 10 If it be thrown in an oblique line, it returns not to the thrower but to another place. 1832 P. Egan Bk. Sports 344/1 Mr. K—ngsc—e comes next... An excellent thrower—a hundred yards clear. 1850 ‘Bat’ Cricket. Man. 44 Long Leg must..be occupied by a good thrower. 1892 Rider Haggard Nada the Lily 198 It is the bold thrower who oftenest wins. 1911 Times 3 Mar. 8/3 The thrower of the bomb was immediately arrested. |
b. With various adverbs: cf. throw v.1 VI.
| c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. lx. 142 She is maistresse of trouþe..þrower doun, dryuer awey of sorowe. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iii. iii. 29 Since Fate..Hath made thy person for the Thrower-out Of my poore babe. 1719 London & Wise Compl. Gard. vi. 19 The Autumn Winds, those throwers down of Fruits. 1773 J. Allen Serm. St. Mary's, Oxford 26 We have no Ahaz, no thrower down nor changer of altars. 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. P. III. cxxiv. 78 It may be late, but they have not been the throwers away. 1963 N. Streatfeild Vicarage Family vi. 75 Some of the members of his men's society..are coming by train as throwers-out. If there is a rumpus it will be all over almost before it begins. |