▪ I. toller1
(ˈtəʊlə(r))
Also 4 -ere, 4–5 -are, 4–6 -ar, 6 towler.
[OE. tollere, f. toll n.1 + -er1.]
1. One who takes toll, a toll-collector (now rare); † a tax-gatherer, ‘publican’ (obs.).; toller of the sack, a miller.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 510 Hu ðæs caseres tolleras axodon Petrus. Ibid. II. 468 God..hine awende of tollere to apostole. c 1050 Supp. ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 171/29 Telonearius, tolnere vel tollere. 13.. Cursor M. 25804 (Cott.) Matheu was first toller And siþen cristes gospeller. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints x. (Mathou) 9 In þe tolbuth set lewy, Þat as a tollare þare wes sate. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 220 Taillours and tynkeres & tolleres in marketes. 1474 Caxton Chesse iii. iv. (1883) 108 The customers, tollers, and resseyuours of rentes & of money. c 1510 Barclay Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570) G iv, No towler, catchpoll nor customer No broker nor botcher, no somner nor sergeaunt. c 1550 Cheke Matt. ix. 10 Mani tollers and sinners sat doun also with Jesus and with his discipils. 1591 Greene Conny-Catch. ii. Wks. (Grosart) X. 79 The Priggar when he hath stollen a horse..bringeth to the touler..two honest men, eyther apparelled like citizens, or plain country yeomen, and they..offer to depose, that they know the horse to be his. 1724 A. Shields J. Renwick (1827) 148 One of the Tollers or Waiters discovered the House. 1831 Lincoln Herald 6 May, Surely a tailor or shoemaker is as good as a printer's devil or a toller of the sack. |
2. An apparatus for separating the toll of grain: = toll-collector (c) (toll n.1 3).
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Supp., Toller. (Grist Mill.) The Tom Thumb toller is an automatic divider of the toll from the grist. |
▪ II. toller2, toler
(ˈtəʊlə(r))
Also 5 tollare.
[f. toll, tole v.1 + -er1.]
† 1. One who ‘tolls’, entices, or instigates. Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 496/1 Tollare or styrare to do goode or badde, excitator, instigator. |
2. A decoy; spec. a dog of a small breed used in decoying ducks: see toll v.1 2. Also attrib. U.S.
| 1831 I. T. Sharpless in Cabinet of Nat. Hist. I. 43/2 Most persons on these waters, have a race of small, white or liver coloured dogs, which are familiarly called the toler breed. 1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl iii. 72 For deep-water ducks, three or four decoys as tolers may be set out to leeward. |
▪ III. toller3
(ˈtəʊlə(r))
[f. toll v.2 + -er1.]
One who tolls a bell.
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 118 The milner tolth corne, the sexton tolth the bell, In whiche tollyng, tollers thriue not a lyke well. |
▪ IV. † toller4 Law. Obs.
[Agent-n. f. toll v.4]
One who tolls or bars the entry of another. Hence tol-, tolleress, a female toller.
| 1313–4 Eyre of Kent (Selden) II. 5 Ele entra com nostre toleresse. 1912 transl. She entered but as our toleress. Note. A toleress is one who tolls the entry. |