▪ I. carr1 dial.
(kɑː(r))
[Old Northumbrian carr rock.]
A rock: now especially applied to insulated rocks off the Northumbrian and Scottish coasts.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. vii 24 Se ðe ᵹetimbres hus his ofer carr. Ibid. Mark xv. 46 Byrᵹen þæt wæs ᵹeheawen of carre. 1856 Berwick Nat. Club III. 223 Farne Islands—The Utt Carres, modernized into Out Carres, are not far from Monkshouse. |
▪ II. carr2, car local.
(kɑː(r))
Also 4 kerr, 5 ker, 6–7 carre.
[From ON. Cf. Da. kær, kjær pool, pond (e.g. gade-kær village pond), Sw. kærr fen, morass, marsh, moor, Norw. kjær, kjerr pool, marsh, wet copse, Icel. kjarr copse-wood, brushwood, kjarrm{yacu}rr marsh grown with brushwood.]
1. A pond or pool; a bog or fen; now, usually, wet boggy ground; a meadow recovered by draining from the bog.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 14574 Sire Thadok, þe erchebischop of ȝork, He liuede in kerres, as doþ þe stork. 1538 Leland Itin. V. 53 This Fenne..hath many Carres of Waters in it. Ibid. V. 122 There is a praty Car or Pole in Bishops Dale. 1556 Scotter Crt. Roll in E. Peacock N.-W. Linc. Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v., Euery inhabytant of Scotter shall put ther geyse in the carre. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. (1623) 46 Which pastures may be either high woods, commons, carres, or such like spacious pieces of ground. 1691 Ray N.C. Wds, Carre, a hollow place where water stands. 1843 Jrnl. Roy. Agric. Soc. IV. ii. 293 These redeemed meadows, or carrs [Lincolnshire]..consist of an unctuous peat. 1880 Times 17 Sept. 8/5 In the carrs and marishes both corn and turnips are under water. 1881 Archæol. XLVI. 378 There are lands called cars in most of the neighbouring parishes. 1887 York Herald 16 Apr. 2/1 Agistments in Everingham Carr. Horses and Cattle may be Pastured on the above Carr from 10th May to Old Michaelmas Day, 1887. |
2. A fen or bog grown up with low bushes, willows, alders, etc.; a boggy or fenny copse.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 272 Ker, where treys growyn be a watur or a fenn, cardetum; ker for aldyr, alnetum. 1681 Worlidge Dict. Rust. et Urb., Carre, woody moist boggy ground. 1691 Ray S. & E.C. Wds., Carre, a wood of alder, or other trees in a moist boggy place. 1865 W. White East. Eng. II. 98 The larger islets are known as ‘carrs’, and ‘alder carrs’ to denote those on which the waterside tree grows thickly. 1874 N. & Q. Ser. v. I. 132 In Norfolk..osier or alder carrs. One is called the bird-carr from the fact of the black-headed gull breeding there. 1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xv. (1884) 111 In the upper marshes, low copses, locally called ‘carrs,’ are numerous. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as carr fir, oak, wood, timber and trees dug up in carrs; † carr-grave, † -graver, an officer appointed to attend to the carrs; † carr-sick (see quot.): carr swallow, a local name of the Black Tern (Sterna nigra). Also cargoose.
| 1691 Ray N.C. Wds., Car-sick, the kennel, a word used in Sheffield. 1802 Montague Ornith. Dict. II, It is found in the fenny parts of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, and is called at this last place Car-Swallow. |
▪ III. carr3, car local.
(kɑː(r))
[perh. identical with prec.]
(See quot.)
| 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 146 Whether they can find any coal water, i.e. an acid water having a Car, or yellow sediment. 1880 R. Holland in O.C. & F. Words (E.D.S.) 77 The brown sediment (humate of iron) deposited in water from boggy ground is called carr in Cheshire. |
Hence carr-water, carry a.
| 1875 Lanc. Gloss. 70 Carr-water, red peaty water. Carry, red, peaty. 1888 N. & Q. vii. V. 135. |
▪ IV. carr
var. of car.