▪ I. laver, n.1
(ˈleɪvə(r), ˈlɑːvə(r))
Also 1 laber.
[a. L. laver.]
† 1. A water-plant mentioned by Pliny; = Gr. σίον. Obs.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 254 Ðeos wyrt þe man sion & oðrum naman laber nemneþ byð cenned on wætum stowum. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 32 Sion otherwise called lauer is found in waters with a fat bushe ryght vp with brode leues. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 255 The roots..are as effectual in this case as green Lauer [margin, Water cresses]. |
2. From the 17th c. applied by writers to various marine algæ, and now used as a trade or culinary name for the edible species. laver bread (also lava bread), a name in Wales for a food made from the fronds of Porphyra umbilicalis, which are boiled, dipped in oatmeal, and fried. purple laver, Porphyra laciniata. green laver, Ulva latissima and Ulva lactuca.
| 1611 Cotgr., Herbe marine, Slanke, Wrake, Lauer, Sea⁓grasse. 1701 W. Kennet Cowell's Interpreter (rev. ed.), Laver⁓bread, in Glamorganshire and some other parts of Wales, they make a sort of Food of a Sea plant, which seems to be the Oyster-green or Sea-Liver-wort. This they call Laver⁓bread. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 257 Laver, which is the Lactuca Marina or Sea-Lettuce. 1766 Anstey Bath Guide v. 32 Fine potted Laver, fresh Oysters, and Pies! 1843 Statist. Acc. Scot. VII. 400 The Ulva latissima which makes a pickle called ‘laver’, is found on the coast. 1847 Sir J. C. Ross Voy. S. Seas II. 266 The green, pink, and purple lavers of Great Britain may be readily recognized. 1873 M. Collins Squire Silchester I. xv. 191 You don't get moor mutton with hot laver sauce every day. 1894 Daily News 1 Dec. 5/4 Laver is now in full season, and is best imported straight from Ireland. 1949 New Biol. VII. 94 In the days when butter was more plentiful, laver bread was heated with butter, lemon juice and pepper, and served with roast mutton. 1953 Dylan Thomas Under Milk Wood (1954) 5 Is there rum and laverbread? 1962 Listener 26 July 140/2 Lava bread..is the only truly Welsh food. It is made from seaweed. 1969 N. W. Pirie Food Resources v. 127 Welsh devotion to laverbread is an important factor which restrains the managers of nuclear installations from fouling the sea more than they do now. |
▪ II. laver, n.2
(ˈleɪvə(r))
Forms: 4–6 lavor, lavour(e, 5 lavowre, lavre, lavyre, lawere, -owre, -orre, Sc. levare, 5–6 Sc. lavar, 6 Sc. lawer, lawar(e, (dial. leyver), 5– laver.
[a. OF. laveoir, lavur:—L. lavātōrium: see lavatory.]
1. A vessel, basin, or cistern for washing; in early use, chiefly a wash-hand-basin or a water-jug, usually of metal; occas. a pan or bowl for water, irrespective of its purpose. Now only poet. or rhetorical. † Also applied to the piscina, and to the lavatory in a monastic cloister.
| c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 287 Assen, oxen, hors, and houndes..been assayd at diuerse stoundes, Bacyns, lauours, er that men hem bye. c 1394 P. Pl Crede 196 Þan kam I to þat cloister..it was..Wiþ lauoures of latun louelyche y-greithed. a 1400 Octouian 1299 Lauor and basyn they gon calle, To wassche and aryse. 1420 E.E. Wills (1882) 46 Also iij. basc[i]nus,..with ij. lauerus. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 232 Þy Ewry borde with basons & lauour, watur hoot & cold, eche oþer to alay. 1483 Act 1 Rich. III, c. 12 §2 That no merchaunt Straungier..brynge into this Realme..Chafynge disshes hangynge lavers [etc.]. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 442 b/1 He wessheth his handes at the pyscyne or lauer for this y{supt} no thynge of the Sacramente ne may abyde at his handes. 1487 Will of Laurence (Somerset Ho.), A water laver for the fyr. 1488 Inv. R. Wardr. (1815) 10 Item a levare of silver ouregilt with a cover. 1507 Pilton Churchw. Acc. (Somerset Rec. Soc.) 53 Item j basen and j lauer of laten. 1549 Compl. Scot. Ep. to Q. Mary 7 He gart delyuir to the said pure man..ane goldin vattir lauar. 1552–3 Inv. Ch. Goods, Staff. in Ann. Lichfield (1863) IV. 31 A handbell, a crosse of wodde, a surples, and a lavor. 1557–8 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 715 In factura unius hostii pro le lavers, 8d. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 514 Wash thy hands in a lauer, wherin is put some Sage. 1593 Rites of Durh. (Surtees) 70 Within the Cloyster Garth..was a fair Laver or Conditt. 1598 Florio, Vacile, a basen to wash hands in, a lauer. 1605 Timme Quersit. i. xiii. 58 Vulcan washed Phœbus in the same lauer. 1647 A. Ross Myst. Poet. xvi. (1648) 388 In her temple at Cumæ..Justin Martyr..saw the three lavers where she used to wash her self. 1725 Pope Odyss. i. 182 With copious water the bright vase supplies A silver laver, of capacious size. Ibid. iii. 558 Young Aretus..Brought the full laver o'er their hands to pour. 1864 Tyssen Ch. Bells of Sussex 11 [The Bell-founders' arms.] A chevron between three lavers. |
b. Used to render Vulg. labrum, Heb. kiyyōr, applied to the large brazen vessel for the ablutions of the priests, mentioned in the descriptions of the Mosaic Tabernacle and of the Temple of Solomon.
| 1535 Coverdale Exod. xxx. 18 Thou shalt make a brasen lauer..to wash. ― 1 Kings vii. 39 The lauer set he before on the righte hande towarde the south. 1647 R. Baillie Anabaptism 166 The laver..was not of the capacity for one man to bath. 1869 W. P. Mackay Grace & Truth (1875) 46 Nicodemus, as a teacher in Israel, should have been looking for the antitype of temple and laver. |
c. The basin of a fountain. Obs. exc. arch.
| 1604 Dekker King's Entertainm. E 3 b, Some prettie distaunce from them an artificiall Lauer or Fount was erected. 1645 Evelyn Diary 18 Jan., Many stately fountaines..casting water into antiq lavors. 1664 Pepys Diary 14 June, A mighty fine, cool place it is, with a great laver of water in the middle. 1670 Blount Glossogr., Laver, a Pond or washing place. 1825 Longfellow Spirit Poetry 14 Where the silver brook, From its full laver, pours the white cascade. |
2. transf. and fig. The baptismal font; the spiritual ‘washing’ of baptism; in wider sense, any spiritually cleansing agency. After Gr. λουτρὸν παλιγγενεσίας Tit. iii. 5: cf. lavacre.
| 1340 Ayenb. 162 Þet oþer þing is zoþe ssrifte þet is þet lauor huer he him ssel ofte wesse. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) i. xiii. (1859) 9 Eke thenne hit sheweth that he hath this lauure desalowid. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Private Baptism, This holesome lauer of regeneracion. 1574 tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 29 Seeyng that Baptime is called the Lauer of newe birth. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 14 This is the onely fountaine opened to the house of Dauid for Sinne and Vncleannesse, this is the onely lauer of the Church. 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 59 At whose hands he receiued the lauer of baptisme. 1670 Moral State Eng. 2 Baptism is the Lavre of Regeneration. a 1684 Leighton Wks. (1835) I. 115 No other laver can fetch it out but the Sprinkling of The Blood of Jesus Christ. 1846 Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 49 Christ's Laver hath refreshing power. |
† 3. A process or mode of ablution. Obs.
| 1671 L. Addison W. Barbary viii. 148 All the Musalmim of the Alcoran use washing in a mystic signification of internal purity, and..the soul receives the benefit of their corporeal Lavors. 1671 Milton Samson 1727 And from the stream With lavers pure and cleansing herbs wash off The clotted gore. a 1684 Leighton Comm. 1 Pet. ii. 9. 303 No other Laver can do it, no water, but that fountain opened for sin. |
4. attrib.
| 1660 Act 12 Chas. II, c. 4 Schedule s.v. Brass, Brass of Laver Cocks the pound j.s. iv d. |
▪ III. ˈlaver, n.3 Her.
[? For *lever-cutter (alluding to the name leversedge): see lever, iris-plant.]
A coulter or ploughshare when used as a bearing. Also laver cutter.
| 1828–40 in Berry Encycl. Herald. I (whence in recent Dicts.). 1894 Parker's Gloss. Her. s.v. Plough, Argent, a chevron between three laver cutters (or ploughshares, also called scythe blades) sable—Leversedge, co. Chester. |
▪ IV. † ˈlaver, a. Obs. rare—1.
? = blabber a.
| 1598 Marston Pygmal. iv. [v.] 75 Let his [the hound's] lauer lip Speake in reproch of Natures workmanship. |
▪ V. † ˈlaver, v. Obs.
[f. laver n.2]
intr. To bathe.
| 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass 37 With surfets tympany he ginning swell All wan eft lavers in Saint Buxtons well. |
▪ VI. laver
obs. form of lather v.