ˈside-waver dial.
Also 7 -wiver, 9 -wafer, -wefer.
[f. side n.1 with obscure second element.
With sense 1 cf. the Northumb. inwaver, inwiver a bar of wood inside a boat, on which the seats rest. Sense 2 seems to be derived from the verbs wave or waver.]
1. A purlin.
| 1611 Cotgr., Filiere,..a side-wauer. 1641 Louth Rec. (1891) 110 To Carter for two fyne Poules for sidewivers for the schole, v s. vj d. 1671 in Holmes Pontefract Bk. Entries (1882) 103 Item, for syde wavers, 2. 0. 0. 1703 Thoresby Let. to Ray, Bawks, the large timber beams that support the roof by sign-trees, under the side-wavers. 1788 W. H. Marshall Yorksh. II. 351 Sidewaver, the purline of a roof. 1850 Parker Gloss. Arch. (ed. 5) 377 In some districts purlins are called ribs,..in Lincolnshire side-wavers. |
2. Coal-mining. (See quot. 1851.)
| 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms, Northumb. & Durh., Side-wavers, the loose sides of a drift or open-cast, which would, if unsupported, soon fall. 1868 Scott Ventilat. Coal⁓mines 28 (E.D.D.), A side-wafer, or a frame of stone, most dangerous to look at, as it appeared ready to drop. Ibid. 31 The sides of the shaft..had given way; large side-wefers had slidden off. |