▪ I. otter, n.
(ˈɒtə(r))
Forms: 1 otr, otor, (octer), 1–5 oter, 3–5 otur, (5 otere, otre, ot(t)our, ottyre, otyr(e, otir, 6 ottre, 9 dial. oater), 5– otter.
[Com. Teut.: OE. otr, ot(t)or, oter = MDu., Du. otter, OHG. ottar (MHG., G. otter), ON. otr:—OTeut. *otró-z, pre-Teut. *udró-s: cf. Lith. udra, OSlav. vydra, Skr. udrá-s, ‘otter’; radically akin to Gr. ὕδωρ, Skr. udan, Eng. water; cf. Gr. ὕδρος, ὕδρα water-snake.]
1. a. An aquatic fur-bearing carnivorous mammal (Lutra vulgaris, family Mustelidæ) feeding chiefly on fish, having fin-like legs, webbed feet, and long horizontally flattened tail, which enable it to swim and turn in the water with remarkable rapidity.
Often taken as the type of an amphibious creature.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 585 (O.E.T.) Lutrus, otr [Erf. octer, Corp. otr]. c 1000 in Kemble Cod. Dipl. III. 418 Of oteres hole. c 1000 ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 118/42 Lutria, otor. c 1275 Moral Ode (Jesus MS.) 358 in O.E. Misc. 70 Ne oter ne acquerne. Beuveyr ne sablyne. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 237/642 On is hindore fet An Otur þare cam gon. c 1440 Jacob's Well 118 As þe ottyr sleth fysch, & gaderyth it on hepe in-to his hole. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 22 Late us ete the gret ele, and y wille saie to my husbond that the otour hathe eten hym. 14.. Nominale in Wr.-Wülcker 700/16 Hic lutricius, a notyre. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xcii. [lxxxviii.] 273 Lyke an Otter in the water. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. iii. 143 An Otter, sir Iohn? Why an Otter? Fal. Why? She's neither fish nor flesh. a 1654 Selden Table-t. (Arb.) 69 A kind of an Otter, a Knight half-Spiritual, and half-Temporal. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. II. 319 In the first step of the progression from land to amphibious animals we find the Otter. 1811 in C. A. Johns Week at Lizard 64 To John Johns for an oater..1s. 1839 E. D. Clarke Trav. Russia 136/1 Great quantities of the furs and skins of the otter, beaver, and fox, are annually brought to market by the traders. |
b. Applied to other species of
Lutra, and allied genera (of which there are several), as the
American otter,
L. canadensis;
sea otter,
L. (Enhydris) marina, with black glossy fur, which inhabits the American shores of the North Pacific.
| 1781 Pennant Hist. Quadr. II. 356 Mustela lutris..Sea Otter. 1842 Sir W. Jardine in Nat. Libr., Mammalia XIII. 254. 1883 Cassell's Nat. Hist. II. 201 Like the Seal, the Sea Otter is gregarious. |
2. The fur or skin of this animal (of any species).
| 1429 in Somerset Wills (1901) 131 [A gown furred (togam furratam) with] oter. 1530 Palsgr. 250/1 Ottre, a furre, peaux de loutres. 1653 Walton Angler ii. 41 The gloves of an Otter are the best fortification for your hands against wet weather. 1887 J. Ashby-Sterry Lazy Minstrel (1892) 46 You never..saw such A lithe little learner in otter. |
† 3. A sailor.
Obs. slang.| c 1700 Street Robberies Consider'd, Otter, a sailor. |
4. a. A tackle consisting of a float with line and a number of hooks, used in fresh-water fishing.
b. A kind of fishing gear used in deep-sea trawling; also
attrib.| 1851 H. Newland Erne 53 The otter is a thin piece of board, about four feet long and a foot or so broad. 1860 [see otter v. 2]. 1898 Daily News 19 Feb. 2/1 The steam catchers..are of the most approved type, with special steam winches and ‘Otter’ fishing gear. |
c. A type of paravane, used
esp. by merchant vessels. Later, any paravane.
| [1910 Blackw. Mag. June 899/1 We might adapt to naval use those poaching expedients, the ‘cross-line’ and the ‘otter’.] 1920 Nature 8 Jan. 487/1 The paravane or otter..proved a very effective weapon against both mines and submarines. 1920 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1919 273 The Protector Paravanes, or Otters, carry a form of cutter, but no explosive charge whatever. 1954 Bradford & Quill Gloss. Sea Terms 138/2 The mooring of a mine coming in contact with this taut tow-line slides along to the otter where it enters a pair of cutting jaws and is cut adrift. |
5. Short for
otter-moth: see 7.
| c 1440 Floris & Bl. (Taunt. MS.) 96/772 Or y it ere wyst, An Otter fleyȝ ageynst my brest. |
6. Name of a breed of sheep:
= ancon.
| 1890 C. L. Morgan Anim. Life & Intell. vi. (1891) 226 From this one lamb the otter, or ancon, breed was raised. |
7. attrib. and
Comb., as
otter-killer,
otter-skin,
otter-track,
otter-trap;
otter-board, (
a) a fishing-tackle consisting of a board with several hooks attached; (
b)
= door 4 b;
otter-canoe, a kayak used by sea-otter hunters in Alaska;
otter-dog,
-hound, a dog of a breed used for hunting the otter;
otter-hunt,
† (
a) the huntsman having charge of otter-hounds; (
b) the chase of the otter;
otter-hunting = prec. (
b);
otter-line = sense 4 (a), (b);
otter-man, a fisher who uses an otter-line or otter-board;
otter-mark, a trace left by an otter;
otter-moth, the ghost-moth (
Hepialus humuli);
otter-path, a continuous track left by otters;
† otter-sheep U.S., a variety of sheep with short, crooked legs;
cf. otter n. 6;
otter-shell, the English name of bivalve shells of the genus
Lutraria;
otter-shrew, an aquatic insectivorous quadruped,
Potamogale velox, of western equatorial Africa, having a weasel-like body;
otter-spear, a spear used in hunting otters;
otter tail (see
quot. 1932);
otter-trawl, a trawl fitted with the ‘otter’ device (sense 4 b); hence
otter-trawling n., fishing with the otter-trawl.
| 1901 Field 5 Jan. 19/2 The *otter-board was only employed..upon those lakes where the trout were indifferent to the angler's flies. 1904 Daily Chron. 21 Nov. 5/7 He lost his otter-board and had to put a new trawl on next morning. 1936 J. Buchan Island of Sheep xiii. 247 Look at the trawl. It's absurd. It has no otter-boards... There's something wrong with this ship. 1971 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 21 May 21/3 The net flops into the water and sinks away sideways. When it is some way out it is followed by the shuddering crash of the two otter-boards, ton-weight doors, that are towed at an angle to keep the net open on the bottom. |
| 1653 Walton Angler i. 4 All men that keep *Otter dogs ought to have a Pension from the Commonwealth. |
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 446 These otters are hunted with special dogs called *otter-hounds. 1854 J. W. Warter Last of Old Squires vi. 59 A messenger was despatched for the otter-hounds, which a friend of the squire's kept some ten miles off. |
| 1485 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 356/2 Graunte of the Office of *Otterhunte. 1601 F. Tate Househ. Ord. Edw. II (1876) 45 An otterhunt, who shal have in his custody twelve dogges running at the ottre. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxvi, An otter-hunt the next day, and a badger-baiting the day after, consumed the time merrily. |
| 1735 Somerville Chase iv. Argt., Description of the *Otter Hunting. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxvii. 90 The brig Convoy..engaged in otter-hunting among the islands. |
| a 1676 Walton Angler ii. (Cassell) 45 The want of *otter-killers..will in time prove the destruction of all rivers. |
| 1862 Blackw. Mag. Mar. 182 Death stauns owre't wi' *otter-line, Oot liftin' ten by ten. |
| 1901 Field 5 Jan. 19/2 The *otterman must chuckle inwardly when he sees a perspiring and jaded angler..with one or two fish in his basket. |
| 1856 Dove Logic Chr. Faith v. i. §1. 247 We should understand why the *otter-marks led to the water. |
| 1804 Med. Jrnl. XII. 229 Hop yards might be preserved from the honey⁓dew..and from the *ottermoth, by being covered with stones. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. (1807) II. 250 The otter moth..producing its larvæ upon the roots of the plants. |
| 1864 J. C. Atkinson Stanton Grange 189 What might have been termed an *otter-path; not merely the track of his feet here and there. |
| 1809 E. A. Kendall Trav. Northern Parts U.S. I. 309 Some of the farmers [in Connecticut] are partial to a remarkable variety of sheep, which they call the *otter-sheep. 1863 H. S. Randall Pract. Shepherd (ed. 7) v. 42 A family of them, the Otter Sheep—so termed from their short, crooked, rickety legs. 1873 Amer. Naturalist VII. 742 The otter sheep..originated on the farm of Seth Wright, near Charles River, Mass. 1884 Century Mag. Feb. 516/1 There were also the Otter sheep, said to have originated on some island on our eastern coast. |
| 1865 J. G. Wood Common Shells 45 As is implied by the scientific title, Lutraria, the *Otter-shells inhabit the mud, into which they burrow deeply, exactly as do the Gapers. Ibid. 46 The commonest species, the Oval Otter-shell. Ibid. 47 The Oblong Otter-shell is not so plentiful as its oval relative. |
| 1545 Rates of Customs C j b, *Otter skynnes the pece xiid. 1583 Ibid. D v, Otter skinnes the peece ijs. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 266 A jerkin made of otter-skin. 1849 F. Parkman Calif. & Oregon Trail x. 144 The dandy carried a bow and arrows in an otter-skin quiver at his back. 1971 Country Life 28 Oct. 1128/3 Red chokers about sun-burned necks, and more than one round hat of otter-skin. |
| 1540 in Wilts Archæol. Mag. VIII. 272 [They] did assaulte this deponent with their swerdes and an *otter-speare. 1818 Scott Rob Roy v, Nets, fishing-rods, otter-spears, hunting-poles, with many other singular devices and engines for taking or killing game. |
| 1932 Lady Howe in A. C. Smith et al. Hounds & Dogs viii. 69 The tail..should be very thick towards the base gradually tapering towards the tip, of medium length, should be practically free from any feathering, but should be clothed thickly all round with the Labrador's short, thick, dense coat, thus giving that peculiar rounded appearance which has been described as the ‘*otter’ tail. 1948 B. Vesey-Fitzgerald Bk. Dog 1000 Otter tail: A thick tapering tail similar to that of an otter, much desired in the Labrador Retriever. 1973 P. R. A. Moxon Gundogs (ed. 9) iv. 71 The Labrador Retriever..is undoubtedly ideal for water, the sleek water-resisting coat and ‘otter’ tail seeming almost designed for the job. |
| 1863 Atkinson Stanton Grange (1864) 192 One or two points near the presumed *otter-tracks. |
| 1897 R. Munro Prehist. Probl. 245 Among the fishing gear..he includes this *otter-trap. |
| 1899 W. C. McIntosh Resources of Sea 93 The new *otter-trawls capture more round than flat fishes. 1936 Russell & Yonge Seas (ed. 2) 275 In the case of the otter-trawl two ‘otters’ or ‘doors’ are used. To these the sides of the net's mouth are attached, and they are set at such angles that as they are drawn over the sea bottom they diverge farther and farther from the centre of the net's mouth until an equilibrium point is reached and the mouth of the net is stretched agape. 1973 W. Elmer Terminol. Fishing ii. 71 In many places the otter trawl has ousted the beam trawl. 1973 Fisheries Fact Sheet (Environment Canada Fisheries & Marine Service) No. 1. 2/3 The former two [sc. the trawler and dragger]..catch fish by dragging an otter-trawl or similar device. This is a large baglike arrangement of nets which captures fish as the vessel tows it through the water. |
▪ II. ˈotter, v. [f. prec. n., after to fish, etc.] 1. intr. To hunt the otter.
| 1902 Daily Chron. 3 July 3/2 He writes of..ottering in St. John's Vale, of the Grasmere rush-bearing. |
2. To fish with the ‘otter’ tackle (see
prec. 4 a, b).
| 1860 G. H. K. in Vac. Tour. 165 Certain Philistines have increased the mischief by permitting their gillies to use the otter... If the gilly otters for you, he will for himself. 1890 Daily News 29 Sept. 4/8 A loch can be ‘ottered’, fish can thus be made shy and hard to catch. 1892 Field 7 May 681/2 The fish..are..shy, having been well whipped over or ottered for by the local fishermen. |
▪ III. otter variant form of
otto,
attar.