▪ I. shoveller1
(ˈʃʌv(ə)lə(r))
Forms: α. 5 schoveler, 9 shoveller (U.S. shoveler); β. 9 shooler.
[f. shovel v. + -er1.]
One who shovels.
| α c 1440 Promp. Parv. 448/2 Schoveler..tribularius. 1833 H. Martineau Charmed Sea iv. 60 She..stood dripping with her load in the presence of the shoveller. 1884 Milit. Engin. I. ii. 27 It is advisable to provide one shoveller to each two diggers in the third relief. |
| β 1857 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XVIII. i. 105 The labourer with the spade—or ‘shooler’, as he is called—commences his work by throwing out a furrow. |
▪ II. shoveller2
(ˈʃʌv(ə)lə(r))
Forms: α. 5 shovelere, schoveler, 6 schofler, shovelor, (shoovelar), 6–7 shovelar, 7 shovler, 7–8 shuffler, 6– shoveler, shoveller; β. 7 shouler.
[Alteration of shovelard, with substitution of -er1 for -ard. Cf. G. † schufler (1582 in Gesner-Heusslin), schaufler (Nemnich).]
† 1. = shovelard.
| α c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 541 Also for bustard betowre & shovelere, gamelyn is in sesoun. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparowe 408 The shouelar with his brode bek. 1577 V. Leigh Surveying D j b, The like Rente, maie be and in some Mannours, is of Herneshawes, Shouelors, &c. 1603 G. Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 131 The Shovler. 1612 Peacham Gentl. Exerc. i. xvi. (1634) 54 Waterfowle, as the Mallard, Shoveller, Sheldrake. 1668 Charleton Onomast. 103 Ardea Alba..the white, and spoon-bill'd Heron, or Shoveler. 1796 Stedman Surinam II. xxviii. 343 The shoveler, or spoon-bill (which has some affinity to the cranes) is about the size of a goose. |
| β 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxv. 353 The Shouler which so shakes the ayre with saily wings. |
¶ b. Erroneously applied to the Pelican.
| 1552 Cooper Elyot's Dict., Pelicanus, a byrde called a pelicane, or shouelar. |
2. ‘From the latter half of the 17th century’ (Newton Dict. Birds 841) applied to the Spoonbill Duck, Spatula (or Rhynchaspis) clypeata, a bird with a broad shovel-like beak. Also shoveller duck.
| 1674 Ray Coll. Words, Water Fowl 96 The Shoveler: Anas platyrynchos, sive clypeata. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Shuffler, a Bird like, but not so big as a Duck, having a broader Bill. 1732 Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 449 The Blue-wing'd Shoveler. 1768 Pennant Brit. Zool. (ed. 4) II. 467 Red Breasted Shoveler. 1838 J. J. Audubon Ornith. Biogr. IV. 241 Shoveller Duck. Anas clypeata, Linn. 1859 Darwin Orig. Species vii. (1873) 184 The beak is thus very inferior as a sifter to that of the shoveller. 1878 Proc. U.S. Nat. Museum I. 446 Spatula clypeata (Linn.). Shoveller; Spoon-bill Duck. |
3. Her. A representation of a ‘shoveller’.
| [1572 J. Bossewell Armorie iii. 25 Beareth to hys creste a shouelard Argente (misprinted a shouelar d'Argente).] 1780 Edmondson Heraldry II. Gloss., Shoveller, a species of water-fowl, somewhat like the duck. |
▪ III. † ˈshoveller3 Obs. rare—1.
[f. shovel n. + -er1.]
? The Shovel-head Shark.
| 1664 Hubert Catal. Rarities 13 Whole Fishes. A Shoveller or Blew Sharke. |