▪ I. crowner1
(ˈkraʊnə(r))
[f. crown v. + -er.]
1. One who crowns: in various senses of the vb.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 105 Crownere, or corownere, coronator. 1617 Fletcher Mad Lover v. i, Oh, fair sweet goddess, queen of loves..Crowner of all happy nights. 1660 Burney κέρδ. Δῶρον (1661) 15 He..is the holy Anointer, the Crowner himself. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 564 He who was to be..the sure Foundation and Crowner of the whole building. |
2. The crowning act. U.S.
| 1815 Massachusetts Spy 31 May (Th. 146), This is the crowner, the cap-sheaf. 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast xxvii. 92 That very night we slipped our cables, as a crowner to our fun ashore. 1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie V. xxv, Wal, if that a'n't the craowner! 1922 Alice Brown Old Crow xxvii. 320 Isn't that a joke, Rookie? Charlotte would say it's the crowner. |
3. A fall on the crown of the head.
| 1861 W. Melville Good for Nothing ii. xxvi. 201 A ‘crowner’ for John, whose horse goes shoulder deep into a hole. 1879 Forbes in Daily News 28 June 5/7 The inevitable fate of the rider is an imperial crowner, with, as like as not, his horse on the top of him. |
▪ II. † crowner2 Obs. exc. dial.
Also 5 Sc. -ar(e, -air, 5–6 -ar, 6 -ere.
[A popular by-form of coroner, assimilated to crown n., and corresp. to the med.L. form corōnātor: cf. crown v.2]
1. = coroner. (Now only dialectal, or with allusion to the passage in Hamlet.)
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxiv. 120 Til Elandonan his crownare past, For til arest mysdoaris þare. 1487 Act 3 Hen. VII, c. 2 The crowner upon the viewe of the body dede shuld inquire of hym..that had don that deth or murder. 1577 Harrison England ii. iv. (1877) i. 102 There are..crowners, whose dutie is to inquire of such as come to their death by violence. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. i. 4 The Crowner hath sate on her, and finds it Christian buriall. Ibid. 24 Other. But is this law? Clo. I marry is't, Crowners Quest Law. 1667 Pepys Diary (1877) V. 166 Find the Crowner's jury sitting. 1823 Byron Juan xi. xvii, As soon as ‘Crowner's quest’ allow'd. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. I. 192 The crowner would be gettin' to hear on it. |
2. Sc. He who had command of the troops raised in one county. Improperly for colonel.
| 1639 Baillie Letters (1775) I. 164 Renfrew had chosen Montgomery their crowner. 1654 Nicoll Diary (1836) 125 A..feast, prepared by the Toun of Edinburgh for him [Monk] and his speciall crowneris. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. VI. lxxi. 249 A few trained officers, the most important among whom was Crowner or Colonel Gun. |