▪ I. voucher, n.1
(ˈvaʊtʃə(r))
[a. AF. voucher vouch v.: see -er4.]
1. a. Law. The summoning of a person into court to warrant the title to a property. voucher over (cf. vouch v. 1 c).
| 1531 Dial. on Laws Eng. ii. iv. G v b, If suche a recouerye be had of rente with a voucher ouer, then it shalbe taken to be of lyke effecte as recoueryes of landes be in suche maner as we haue treated of before. 1544 tr. Littleton's Tenures 12 And he vouched the heyre of the feoffour, and duringe the voucher and not termyned, the wyfe of the feoffe bryngeth an accyon of Dower agaynst the heyre of the feoffe. 1570 Act 13 Eliz. c. 5 §5 Any Estate..by reason whereof any Person..shall use any Voucher in any Writ of Formedon. 1621 Sanderson Serm. I. 184 When thou..hast nayled all these with all the appurtenances, by fines, and vouchers, and entayls, as firm as law can make them, to thy child. 1625 [see vouchee 1]. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. 358 This is called the voucher..or calling of Jacob Morland to warranty. 1768 Ibid. III. 299 Voucher also is the calling in of some person to answer the action, that hath warranted the title to the tenant or defendant. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 425 To the intent that a common recovery should be had and suffered against them, with voucher of the lessor. [1865 F. M. Nichols Britton II. 4 In this writ neither view nor voucher lies. Ibid. 98 In such case the tenant shall fail in his voucher.] |
b. double voucher: (see quot. 1628).
| 1594 West 2nd Pt. Symbol. §136 In a recouerie with double voucher, the fine must be sued first to make him tenant at the time of the writ of Entre brought. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 114 His recognizances, his Fines, his double Vouchers. 1628 Coke On Litt. 102 You shall finde in bookes a recouery with a single Voucher, and that is when there is but one Voucher, and with a double Voucher, and that is when the Vouchee voucheth over. 1752 M{supc}Douall Inst. Law Scot. II. 244 The above is the procedure in a Common Recovery with a double voucher, and is the most common and safe way. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. 359 It is now usual always to have a recovery with double voucher at the least. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 325 In a recovery with double voucher. |
2. a. transf. A piece of evidence; a fact, circumstance, or thing serving to confirm or prove something; a guarantee.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. ii. ii. 39 Heere's a Voucher, Stronger than euer Law could make. 1696 Whiston The. Earth ii. (1722) 191 Plutarch and Pliny attest it,..the last bringing Augustus's own Words for his Voucher. 1699 Bentley Phal. 37 It has no Voucher but the Epistles of Phalaris, the very Book that's under debate. 1719 R. Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 436 The vouchers and proofs are such as will, I hope, be found sufficient. 1744 T. Birch Life Boyle 112 The philosophy of Des Cartes..had not the necessary vouchers of repeated experiments, purposely tried, to make it good. 1788 Priestley Lect. Hist. iv. xxix. 217 The collection of records..supplies good vouchers of the truth of all he advances. 1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. ii. vi. 302 note, The Register of St. Andrews is the most ancient voucher for the death of Alpin. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxiv. 237 The destruction of the vouchers of the cruise..the log-books, the meteorological registers, the surveys, and the journals. 1885 Manch. Exam. 3 June 5/2 The strength of the bias which these letters reveal..[is] a sufficient voucher for their genuineness. |
b. A written document or note, or other material evidence, serving to attest the correctness of accounts or monetary transactions, to prove the delivery of goods or valuables, etc.
| 1696 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 28 At last it ended in appointing a committee to repair to the East India house and search their books, if they can find vouchers for the said accounts. 1731 in W. Hale Prec. Causes of Office (1841) 68 The vouchers and an estimate of the necessary expenses..to be laid before the vestry. 1760 Cautions & Advices to Officers of Army 35 Keep all the Serjeant's Pay-Notes, and all Receipts, to be produced as your Vouchers when you settle Accompts with your Captain. 1780 Jefferson Corr. Wks. 1859 I. 245 The arms you have to spare may be delivered to General Gates's order, taking and furnishing us with proper vouchers. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, I. xi. 309 At his death, his family discovered that he..had kept no vouchers or any accounts whatever. 1857 Toulmin Smith Parish 183 When they have regularly to produce accounts, with vouchers, of all receipts and expenditure. 1866 Crump Banking, &c. iv. 96 Disputing the payment of a particular cheque, and alleging that all his paid vouchers had been destroyed. |
c. A written warrant or attestation.
| 1796 Trans. Soc. Arts XIV. 274. I send along with this a voucher signed by the Mayor..who saw me make Net on this machine. 1862 R. H. Gronow Remin. I. 49 No one could obtain a box or a ticket for the pit without a voucher from one of the lady patronesses. 1884 Manch. Exam. 12 Sept. 5/1 The report..appears to have been sent direct from the Mudir to Cairo, without a voucher from Major Kitchener, who is at Dongola. |
d. A document which can be exchanged for goods or services as token of payment made or promised by the holder or another (see also quot. 1947).
| 1947 Sun (Baltimore) 12 May 2/5 Stefan has gone through a stack of vouchers—expense accounts—from the American Embassy. 1955, etc. [see luncheon 3]. 1960 S. Unwin Truth about a Publisher ii. xix. 353 The New Zealand Company had not given me an actual ticket..but a voucher instructing their agent to issue me a ticket. |
3. attrib., as voucher-card, voucher form, voucher number, voucher plan, voucher scheme, voucher system.
| 1881 M. E. Braddon Asph. xvii, Where the voucher system is so thoroughly carried out. 1891 Pall Mall G. 21 Sept. 7/2 As I get into the train the guard rushes up and hands me a voucher-card. 1898 Engineering Mag. XVI. 46 The voucher form is printed on white paper for the office, and on tinted green paper for the agents. Ibid., The ‘Key’ to this voucher number. 1970 Phi Delta Kappan LII. 49 For some time Christopher Jenks has believed that voucher plans offer an exit from the bureaucratic morass in which many major school systems are mired. 1980 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts July 475/1 It could be done through some kind of voucher scheme. |
Hence † ˈvoucher v. trans., = vouch v. 5 b.
| 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Stat. Rob. III, 59 The tenant..sall woucher, that is, affirme, that he halds that land..be the tenour of the chartour quhilk is tynt. |
▪ II. voucher, n.2
(ˈvaʊtʃə(r))
[f. vouch v. + -er1. Cf. vouchor.]
1. One who vouches for the truth or correctness of a fact or statement or corroborates another person in this respect; an author or literary work serving this purpose.
| 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 290 Without painting of phrases or collecting of great Authours for my Vouchers. 1679 Penn Addr. Prot. i. vi. (1692) 22 They would make him a Voucher of all their Falshood. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 252 Whether the Beams were of Cedar, it is not so fortunate as to have a Voucher of its own Nation. 1715 M. Davies Athen. Brit. I. 96 For the authenticalness of his Chymical MS. he produces no other Voucher than one Reinesius. 1754 Edwards Freed. Will ii. v. 53 The Use he makes of Sayings of the Fathers, whom he quotes as his Vouchers. 1826 Scott Woodst. xiv, Tomkins..was in the habit of being voucher for his master. 1836–7 Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. (1859) I. iii. 47 Heraclides and Sosicrates, the two vouchers of this story. 1853 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. i. ii. 81 But here I am only concerned with its wealth, for which grave writers are the vouchers. |
b. One who vouches for the respectability or good faith of another, or who undertakes to guarantee some procedure.
| 1667 Waterhouse Fire Lond. 105 Deteining suspicious persons till they brought good vouchers and cleared themselves. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 253 ¶3 All the great Writers of that Age..stand up together as Vouchers for one another's Reputation. 1732 Swift Let. to Barber 14 Dec., Mr. Pilkington..says you will be his voucher that he still continues his modest behaviour. 1791 E. Inchbald Next door Neighb. iii. ii. 66 Mr. Manly, notwithstanding you are these people's voucher, this appears but a scheme. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 94 The only way that I know of is to make these old writers, as much as can be, vouchers for their own pretensions. 1829 Scott Jrnl. 9 Mar., The Solicitor was voucher that they would keep the terms quite general. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxiv. 362 Voucher of him last riseth a prey untimely devoted E'en to the tomb. |
c. transf. Of things, in preceding senses.
| 1718 Rowe tr. Lucan iv. 820 The Seas, and Earth, our Virtue shall proclaim, And stand eternal Vouchers for our Fame. 1742 Young Nt. Th. iv. 553 Religion! the sole voucher man is man; Supporter sole of man above himself. 1835 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (1837) I. xiii. 195 Nothing but past acts are the vouchers for future. 1838 Emerson Addr. Cambridge, Mass. Wks. (Bohn) II. 192 Speak the truth, and all things alive or brute are vouchers..to bear you witness. 1856 ― Eng. Traits, Aristocr. Ibid. 84 The grand old halls scattered up and down in England, are dumb vouchers to the..broad hospitality of their ancient lords. |
† 2. A supporter or upholder of some practice or theory. Obs.
| 1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin ii. iii. 56 This Practice must needs declare it self a notorious moral Wickedness;..and so bids fairer still for its great Vouchers claim unto that Title of the Man of Sin. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. i. 31 A stout Voucher of the 4 Humours, tells how he read..that the Gout arose from Vapours. |
† 3. Cant. One who utters counterfeit coin. Obs.
| 1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 69 Gilts,..Runners, Padders, Booth-heavers, Vouchers and the like. Ibid. 191 The first was a Coyner that stampt in a Mould, The second a Voucher to put off his Gold. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Vouchers, that put off False Money for Sham-coyners. |
† 4. Law. a. = vouchee 1. b. = vouchor. Obs.
| 1596 Bacon Use Com. Law (1635) 52 Which I. H. is one of the Cryers of the Common Pleas, and is called the Common Voucher. 1637 Cowell Interpreter s.v., The partie that voucheth in this case, is called the Tenent, the partie vouched is termed the Voucher. 1672 Manley Cowell's Interpreter s.v., He that voucheth is called Voucher, (vocans) and he that is [vouched is] called Vouchee, (Warrantus). |