▪ I. † ˈocker, ˈoker, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 3–6 oker, -ir, 4 okyre, -ur, ocre, 4–5 ocur, okere, 5 okoure, -yr, occar, -ure, 5–6 -our, 6 -ur, okker, -ir, ockar, 6–7 ocker.
[ME. oker, a. ON. okr increase of money, usury (Sw. ocker, Da. okker), corresp. to OE. wócor increase, fruit, offspring, OLG. *wôker (OFris. wôker, MLG. wôker, MDu. and Du. woeker), OHG. wuchhar (MHG. wuocher, Ger. wucher), Goth. wôkr-s increase, usury (= Gr. τόκος); f. a root wak-, pre-Teut. wog-, perh. ultimately related to aug- in L. augēre, Goth. aukan to add, and to Teut. wahs-, wax, grow.]
The lending of money at interest, usury. (Usually referred to as a crime or sin.)
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 202 Þe Vox of ȝiscunge haueð þeos hweolpes: Tricherie,..Simonie, Gauel, Oker. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xiv. 5 Ne his silver til okir [Wyclif vsure] noght is givande. a 1340 Hampole Psalter liv. 11 In thaim failis not okire, for thai aske mare in all thyngis than thai gif. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Adrian 114 For þe tyme cumis quhene nane Sal gyfte na ȝet ocre be tane. 14.. Tundale's Vis. 53 Throw ocur wold he sylver leyn For nyne schyllyng he wold have ten. a 1450 Myrc Par. Pr. 372 Vsure and okere þat beth al on. 1533 Bellenden Livy ii. (1822) 140 This dett that he wes awand be non payment was ay duplyit on him be usure and okkir. 1609 Bible (Douay) Prov. xxviii. 8 He that heapeth together riches by usuries and ocker. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 47 b, Gif he receaves back againe mair nor he gaue; he commits vsurie and ocker. a 1651 Calderwood Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) III. 14 Did wickedly receive some gaines and filthy Ocker. |
▪ II. ocker, n.2 Austral. slang.
(ˈɒkə(r))
Also Ocker.
[The name of a character in a series of Australian television sketches by Ron Frazer: used earlier as a colloquial variant of names like Oscar and O'Connor.]
A rough, uncultivated, or aggressively boorish Australian. Also attrib. or as adj.
| [1959: see naughty n. 2.] 1971 G. Johnston Cartload of Clay 71 The big man would be a good player, a vigorous clubman, a hearty participant in the companionship of the club bar. He was a type Julian had sometimes talked to him about, what the boy called an ‘Ocker’. 1973 Sunday Sun (Brisbane) 1 July 21/5 His cigarette commercials were the next step in his career. And once again the ocker image worked wonders. 1973 Nation Rev. (Melbourne) 24–30 Aug. 1430/4 (Advt.), Sydney Femme, 27, bored by ozzie ockers and oedipal neurotics, desires to develop dynamic dalliance with..male human beings. 1974 Sydney Morning Herald 24 Apr. 6 That image, of the RSL itself as a sabre-rattling élitist organisation with an over-privileged influence on governments, and of RSL members themselves as beer-swilling, ‘pokey-playing’ Ockers, has, executives believe, faded if not totally evaporated. 1975 TV Times (Austral.) 12 Apr. 10 The cult of the ocker is sweeping Australia. 1976 Telegraph (Brisbane) 30 July 42/1 It is no use telling Australians to wake up; it is not in the ocker character. |
Hence ˈockerdom, ockers collectively. Also ˈockerism, over-assertive boorishness, uncultivated behaviour.
| 1974 P. Porter in Australian 5 Oct. 13 The new Australian boorishness is known as Ockerism, from a slob-like character called Ocker in a television series, the embodiment of oafish, blinkered self-satisfaction. 1975 M. Harris in Ibid. 18 Jan. 18 The resurgence of an aggressive Australian ockerdom was coincident with the first election of the Whitlam Government and the discovery of a ‘new nationalism’. 1977 Sunday Times 23 Jan. 30/8 It is seen as a defeat for the spirit of ockerism (that is, being blatantly Australian). |
▪ III. † ˈocker, ˈoker, v. Obs.
Forms: see ocker n.1
[f. ocker, oker n.1: cf. Sw. ockra to practise usury.]
1. intr. Of money: To grow with, or as with, the addition of interest.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 326 Þe pine, þet okereð euere: vor sunne is þes deofles feih þet he ȝiueð to gauel, & to okere of pine. |
2. intr. To take usury; to lend at interest.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 260 God okuriþ not wiþ man but ȝif God make þe encrees. 1382 ― Deut. xxviii. 12 Thow shalt okyr to many folkis, and thi self shal not borwe to oker of eny man. |
3. trans. To increase (money) by usury; to put out to interest.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 2621 A neyȝt, when men hadde here reste He okerede pens yn hys cheste. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 259 Whi ȝavest þou not my moneie to þe table, to be occurid? |
Hence † ˈockering, ˈokering, vbl. n., the taking of interest, usury.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 6796 If þat þou lenis ani thing, Þow ask it noght wit occiring [v.r. okering]. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 2465 Okeryng ys on many manere, Mo þan y kan telle now here. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxxi. 14 Of okerynge & wickednes he sal by þe saules of þaim. |