▪ I. pester, v.1
(ˈpɛstə(r))
Also 6–7 pestre, pesture.
[app. short for empester, impester, or F. empestrer, with which it is synonymous in its first sense; used by Cotgrave to translate empestrer. In later use influenced by pest; hence the sense ‘plague’.
But several points in the history are obscure: pester itself is found much earlier than empester or impester; and the prefix em- was generally dropped through an intermediate a-, as in em-, impair, apair, pair v.2, em-, impeach, apeach, peach v.; but no parallel series appears for pester.]
† 1. trans. To clog, entangle, embarrass, obstruct the movements of; to encumber as by overloading or the like. lit. and fig. Obs.
| c 1536 Sir J. Russell Let. to Visct. Lisle 29 Aug. in L. Papers VII. 36 (P.R.O.) You are daily pestered with business. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 159 That we maye not with to many thynges pestre & cloye the reader. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 25/1 The Romane soldiers were..pestered with their heavie armour and weapons. 1608 Capt. Smith True Relation 28 The Indians seeing me pestred in the O[o]se, called to me. 1611 Cotgr., Empestrer, to pester, intricate, intangle, trouble, incomber. 1653 Holcroft Procopius, Persian Wars i. 29 Seing him pestred in a narrow passage. 1676 Hobbes Iliad xvi. 328 Cleobulus then pester'd in the throng By little Ajax taken was alive. |
† 2. To obstruct or encumber (a place) by crowding; to crowd to excess, overcrowd. Obs.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 103 b, Whether also fled so many Englishemen, that the place was pestured, and..thei wer..likely to be famished. 1572 Act 14 Eliz. c. 5 The common gaoles..are like to bee greatly pestered with a more number of prisoners than heretofore hath beene. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 106 Some pester the commons, with iades and with geese. 1588 Lambarde Eiren. iv. xiii. 544 It is not my meaning to pester this Booke with Precedents. 1625 Sir J. Glanville Voy. Cadiz (Camden) 10 That noe parte of the Harbor might bee over pestred. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. ix, I shall not pester my Account..with Descriptions of Places. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. x. 246 Her hands..are as few as is consistent with the safety of the ship, that she may be less pestered with the stowage of provisions. |
† 3. To crowd or huddle (persons or things in or into). Obs.
| 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 22 They..whom Anthony admitted were expelled agayn, pestred in gallies and sent into Hellespont by Marcus Aurelius. 1634 Milton Comus 6 Men..Confin'd, and pester'd in this pin-fold here. 1686 tr. Chardin's Coronat. Solyman 154 With several great Trees pester'd one within another. |
b. intr. for refl. To crowd, press. Obs.
| 1610 E. Skory Extr. Hist. Hen. IV of France 15 This villaine..to that purpose pestered somewhat neere his Person. |
4. To annoy, trouble, plague. a. Of noxious things, vermin, wild beasts, etc.: To infest. Now merged in b.
| 1562 Burn. Paules Ch., Howe was this Realme pesterd with straunge rulers, straunge Gods..and howe is it now peaceablye ridde of theym all. 1625 A. Hatch in Purchas Pilgrims x. iii. 1701 The climate is..not much pestred with infectious or obnoxious ayres. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 20 These Vermin that pester the outside of Animals. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. xxxiii. 4 There are no Inhabitants on those Islands, for they are so pestered with Tigers. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 559 [Malabar] is rich and fertile, but pestered with green adders. |
b. To trouble with petty and reiterated vexations, as with questions or requests; to vex, annoy, trouble persistently, plague. (The current sense.)
| 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 63 You are pestered with some troubles. 1592 W. Wyrley Armorie, Ld. Chandos 82 He was perplext and pesterd in his hed. 1600 C'tess Essex in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 57, I..had never ceased to pester you with my complaints. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xvii. ¶3 The hollow..pesters the Workman to get the Letter out of the Mold and Matrice. 1795 Jefferson Writ. IV. 124, I pestered him with questions. 1825 Cobbett Rur. Rides 179 You are pestered to death to find out the way to..get from place to place. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley ii, These gossips..will keep pestering me about being married. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile xiii. 349 The boys pester us to buy wretched half-dead chameleons. |
Hence ˈpestered ppl. a.
| 1570 Fowler Let. to Cecil 25 Feb. in Cal. St. Papers, For. 192 The air is so evil in this pestered prison that [etc.]. 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 71 In the city amongst the pestered habitations of artificers. 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. ii. 23 Who then shall blame His pester'd Senses to recoyle, and start? 1712 W. Rogers Voy. 8 Very much crouded and pester'd ships. |
▪ II. pester, v.2
(ˈpɛstə(r))
[ad. Romany pessa to pay.]
To pay. So ˈpestering vbl. n.
| 1936 J. Curtis Gilt Kid v. 53 She had to pester up herself out of the pound you give her. Ibid. viii. 88 Tell him to go out and get me a new shirt... Tell him to pester about seven and six for it. Ibid. xi. 116 ‘It's his flat. He pays the rent.’ ‘Sure. I know he does the pestering.’ |
▪ III. pester, n.
(ˈpɛstə(r))
Also 7 pesture.
[f. pester v.1]
† 1. Obstruction; encumbrance. Obs.
| 1585 J. Janes Voy. J. Davies in Hakluyt's Voy. III. 102 A very faire entrance or passage,..altogether void of any pester of ice. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World v. ii. §8 (1634) 604 Being without carriage, pester or other impediment. |
2. Annoyance, trouble, bother; nuisance, plague.
| 1613–18 Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. 98 To the great pesture and disturbance of that people. 1873 Holland A. Bonnic. xii. 205 As likely as any way he was a plague and a pester. |