wielder
(ˈwiːldə(r))
Forms: see wield v.; 4 -ere, 5 -are, -ire, 5–6 -ar, 5– -er.
[f. wield v. + -er1.]
One who wields, in various senses.
† 1. A ruler, governor, master; sometimes applied to God; locally, a manager (?). Obs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 129 Þe welder of wyt, þat wot alle þynges. 1382 Wyclif Isa. i. 3 The oxe kneȝ his weldere, and the asse the cracche of his lord. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 1608 Þe lege Emperoure, Þe wildire [v.r. welder] of all þe werde. 1402 in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 78 As that we were welders and lordes of alle. 1593 Queen Elizabeth Boeth. i. met. v. 44 O weldar, apeace the Roring floudes. 1600 Breton Melancholike Humours Wks. (Grosart) I. 9/1 They, like the wielders of the world, command, and haue their will. 1723 Swift Argts. Power Bps. Wks. 1841 II. 219/1 Such..tenants, generally speaking, have others under them, and so a third and fourth in subordination, till it comes to the welder (as they call him), who sits at a rack-rent. 1823–49 Lingard Hist. Eng. (1855) I. ii. 52/1 The title..of Bretwalda, the wielder or sovereign of Britain. |
† 2. The author or cause of something. Obs. rare.
| 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xvii. 53 The veildars of yis greif. |
3. One who uses or actuates skilfully: const. of (a weapon, instrument, etc.); also fig.
| 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 57 He is the free wielder of all the powers of a free..people. 1855 G. Brimley Ess., Westw. Ho! (1858) 303 These are the high aims of fiction in the hands of its master wielders. 1862 R. W. Procter Our Turf, Stage & Ring 81 The rough-hewn wielders of the spade. 1866 Whittier Snow-bound 438 Brisk wielder of the birch and rule, The master of the district school. 1884 R. F. Burton Bk. Sword viii. 166 The Zanzibari's Sword is..dangerous to the wielder. 1908 Spectator 11 Apr. 564/2 Some able wielder of autocratic power. |