searcher
(ˈsɜːtʃə(r))
Forms: α. 4–6 serchere, 4–7 sercher, 5 sercho(w)re, 5–6 serch(e)our, 6 sercheor(e, 5– searcher; β. 5 seergiour; also (with i for j) seriowre, cer(e)iowre, ceriore; γ. 6 sersour, Sc. searcer, seircear.
[a. AF. cerchour (Rolls of Parlt.), OF. cerchere, cercheor (cf. mod.F. chercheur), f. cerchier search v.; (2) f. search v. + -er1. The two formations, coincident in sense and in their modern phonetic development, do not admit of being distinguished.]
1. a. One who searches, in various senses of the verb; one who explores or investigates, or who endeavours to find something. Const. as the verb. Also searcher-out.
| α 1382 Wyclif Jer. xxx. 17 For cast awei thei clepeden thee Sion; this is she that hadde not aȝeen serchere [Vulg. quæ non habebat requirentem]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xxix. (1495) 790 Sextius was a moost dylygente sercher of medycyn. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 608/7 Rimatorium, a serchour. 1553 Bale Vocac. 5, I haue bene in parell of the sea.., in parell of curiouse searchers. 1572 J. Jones Bathes Ayde i. 8 b, The Phisicyon is a viewer and sercher out of Nature. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 283 They dig the ground like greedie metal mongers, and insatiable searchers for siluer. 1620 Shelton Quix. ii. l. 332 Cid Hamete, the most punctuall Searcher of the very moats of this true History. 1726 Leoni tr. Alberti's Archit. I. 23/2 Pamphilus, an excellent Searcher into Antiquity. 1841 Myers Cath. Th. iii. §10. 34 An honest earnest searcher of the Scriptures. 1884 Church Bacon i. 20 He was not one of the high-minded and proud searchers after knowledge and truth, like Descartes. |
| β c 1440 Promp. Parv. 67/1 Cereiowre (v.rr. ceriore, ceriowre), scrutator, perscrutator. Ibid. 453/2 Seriowre, or serchowre. |
| γ 1562 Winȝet Cert. Tractates Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 24 Curius seircearis of the hie mysteriis of God. |
b. searcher of (men's) hearts: applied to God (chiefly with allusion to
Rom. viii. 27, etc.).
| 1535 Coverdale Wisd. i. 6 God is a witnesse of his reynes, a true searcher out of his hert. 1562 Eden Let. 1 Aug. in Arb. 1st Eng. Bks. Pref. 43/1 The only searcher of mens hartes, the eternall god. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows i. §32. 51 Before God the searcher of hearts. 1870 Dickens E. Drood x, What may be in your heart when you give him your hand, can only be known to the Searcher of all hearts. |
2. One whose office is to search.
† a. An official appointed by a guild or company to resist the violation of its customs and laws, and to prevent the production of work below a certain standard of excellence.
Obs.| 1419 Engl. Misc. (Surtees) 14 It was accorded and assented be bathe the partys that the sercheours of the masons and of the wryghtes of this cite of York suld ga and see what were ryght for ayther party. 1516 Nottingham Rec. III. 345 The Sercheres of the Fysheres..they suffer corupe fyshe and noght to be sold in the market. 1592 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. xv. 274 Imprimis, that y⊇ Serchers and Maisters of the saide arte or science [that of Barber-Surgeons] be chosen euerye yeare. 1681 Lond. Gaz. No. 1655/3 The humble Address of the Master, Wardens, Searchers, Assistants, Freeholders, and Freemen of the Corporation of Cutlers in Hallamshire. |
b. An officer of the custom-house appointed to search ships, baggage, or goods for dutiable or contraband articles.
| α 1422 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 176/1 Poisours, Sercheours, and all suche other Officers. 1494 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 13 The Oath..taken before the Customer or Searcher of the same Port. 1526 Sc. Acts Jas. V (1814) II. 306/1 Archibald douglace provest of Edinburgh to be serchor principale at þe port of leith. 1559 Act 1 Eliz. c. 11 §7 Any..searcher,..or other officer, parteynyng to the subsidie, custome, or custome house. 1652 Evelyn Diary 3 June, I receiv'd a letter from Coll. Morley to y⊇ Magistrates and Searchers at Rie, to assist my wife at her landing. a 1715 Burnet Own Time iii. (1724) I. 475 And then some searchers were sent from the Custom House to look for some forbidden goods. 1840 R. Ellis Brit. Tariff for 1841, 276 Landing Surveyor..Searcher [etc.]. 1891 Olver & O'Reilly Imperial Tariff 267 Goods..may be received back into warehouse..on receipt of a certificate of short shipment from the searcher. |
| β 1461 Paston Lett. I. 78 The best takyng of schepynge is at Yernemuthe er Kyrley..I schall haf favour he now wyt ther seergiours. |
| γ 1598 in Extracts Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1870) I. 75 Reformation to be put to the sersouris vpliftand ane extraordinar dewtie of x s. of ilk chalder of salt passing furth of this realme. |
† c. One appointed to observe and report on any offences against discipline or good order in a religious house, a community, body of workmen, etc.
| α c 1490 Caxton Rule St. Benet 132/19 And the serchers of the relygyon owe to see warely about þat they be occupyed in lecture therof sonday and other. 1538 Elyot Dict., Circuitores, the serchers of watches. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies vi. xv. 465 They had searchers to examine if they did employ themselves in these workes, and to punish the negligent. c 1620 Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) App. 41 Searchers appointed.., to go through the town to see who Bann or Swear. 1845 Coll. Biog. Soc. Jesus 159 The Searcher, according to his commission, examined him. |
| γ 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 218 He appoynted that the names of the offenders..sulde, be the searceris, elected, and to that office chosen, (be) writne vpe and secreitlie endyted in the kingis bukes. |
† d. As the designation of various municipal or government officials;
e.g. a sanitary inspector; an inspector of markets; an examiner of certain articles of manufacture that were not allowed to be sold unless certified by him as of standard quality, etc.
Obs.| 1500 in Extracts Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1870) I. 505 That thair be serchouris chosin within ilk burch,..to serche and seik the personis brekeris of the saidis actis of parliament. 1514 Cov. Leet-bk. 639 Þat ne weuer delyuer eny cloth..tyll the serchers haue seen it whedir it be laufully wrought or no. 1518 Ibid. 663 [Ordained] that [four men named]..schal-be serchers of the Brode-well & the comen broke from the Hillmyll vnto seint Johyns at euery faute they ffynde the Offender to pay xij d. 1613 J. May Decl. Estate Clothing iv. 18 The best search made by the searchers in any place, is but to cast the Clothes into skales to see if they be weight or no. 1738 Act 11 Geo. II, c. 28 §3 Which said Searchers shall and may have full Power..to enter into and inspect all such Mills, Shops, Warehouses [etc.] of Makers, Merchants or Dealers in Narrow Cloth. 1835 App. Munic. Corpor. Rep. iii. 1675 (Pontefract), 2 Searchers of the Corn-market. |
† e. A person appointed to view dead bodies and to make report upon the cause of death.
Obs.| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. ii. 8 The Searchers of the Towne Suspecting that we both were in a house Where the infectious pestilence did raigne. 1607 Middleton Mich. T. iv. i, Then will I..make an ende [i.e. pretend to die]... I haue indented with a couple of searchers, who..shall fray them out a'th Chamber with report of sicknesse, and so la, I start vp, and recouer agen. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) 121 Knowe, in my rage I have slaine a man this day, And knowe not where his body to conveigh And hide it from the searchers inquisition. 1625–6 in Brit. Mag. (1833) IV. 147 Itm paid for 2 redd wands for the searchers in the sycknes tyme 00 00 04. 1662 J. Graunt Observ. Bills Mortality 11 When any one dies..the Searchers..(who are antient Matrons, sworn to their Office) repair to the place where the dead Corps lies, and..examine by what Disease or Casualty the Corps died. 1759 Coll. Bills of Mortality Pref. 7 Every parish appoints a searcher, whose business it is to examine the corpse, and to report the distemper. |
f. An official appointed to search the clothing and person of any one arrested and detained by the police.
| 1726 Swift Gulliver i. v, I kept..a Pair of Spectacles in a private Pocket, which..had escaped the Emperor's Searchers. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Searcher,..a woman who examines female prisoners at a police station. 1863 Times 10 Aug. 9/6 The female searcher at the Kennington-lane police-station. 1890 M. Williams Leaves of a Life II. iv. 38 The searchers next came upon her handkerchief. |
g. (See
quot.)
| 1886 Law Times LXXXI. 152/1 Official searchers should be appointed whose duty it should be to search the register of charges. |
3. An instrument used in making a search.
a. Surg. A probe or sound.
| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 12/3 Try the thicknes of the bone with a little privette or searcher. 1831–40 Liston Elem. Surg. ii. (ed. 2) 650 After almost every operation for stone..a searcher is useful to ascertain whether or not all [fragments] have been removed. |
b. Farriery. (See
quot.)
| 1855 Franke Beil's Technol. Dict. II. 452 Searcher, of farriers (an instrument for examining the horse's hoof). 1873 Weale's Dict. Terms (ed. 4). |
† c. (See
quot.)
Obs. rare—1.
| 1775 N. D. Falck Day's Diving Vessel 25 Also a marine searcher (of my own contrivance) being an iron, somewhat like a sounding lead, but with a sharp ragged spike. |
† d. An instrument for testing the soundness of cannon after discharge;
= gun-searcher.
Obs.| 1706 Albany Fort Jrnl. 1 July in G. Williams Hudson's Bay Miscellany (1975) 72/2 State of stores... 1 pair searchers for great guns. 1800 Naval Chron. IV. 54 Muzzle the searcher, and ram it home in the gun. 1859 F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 55 They are..examined with a searcher after each round. |
e. In microscopical work: An objective of low power used to obtain a general view of the object.
| 1870 Royston-Pigott in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. X. 393 The Aplanatic Searcher is intended to improve the penetration [etc.]. 1898 P. Manson Trop. Dis. xxxi. 451 An inch objective being used in the first instance as a searcher. 1899 J. Cagney tr. Jaksch's Clin. Diagn. (ed. 4) 436 The eye-pieces of extremely low power are called ‘searchers’. |
4. † a. gen. Something that searches or penetrates.
| 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 381/1 A Glass of Infusion of Sassafras in Wine,..is a Searcher which immediately penetrates the whole Body. 1742 Lond. & Country Brewer i. (ed. 4) 61 But, to sweeten a Barrel, Kilderkin, Firkin, or Pin in the great Brewhouses, they put them over the Copper⁓hole for a Night together, that the Steam of the boiling Water or Wort may penetrate into the Wood; this Way is such a furious Searcher, that, unless the Cask is new hooped just before, it will be apt to fall in Pieces. |
b. A penetrating or embarrassing question.
colloq.| 1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 260 Searcher,..une question (ou un problème) embarrassante. 1951 N. M. Gunn Well at World's End xi. 81 He..asked me some questions, and searchers they were. |
Hence
† ˈsearcheress, a female searcher;
ˈsearchership, the office of a searcher.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 117 Of theese drirye dolours eeke thow Queene Iuno the searchresse [L. curarum conscia Iuno]. 1462 Paston Lett. III. 97 Wherfor I beseke youre maistirshipp..that it lyke you to desyre the nomynacion of on of the officez, eythyr of the countroller or serchorship of Jernemuth, for a servaunt of yowrez. 1895 Harper's Mag. Apr. 718/2 The positions they fill are the ‘judgeship’, the ‘searchership’, the ‘spankership’ [etc.]. |