suˈspender
[f. suspend v. + -er1.]
I. One who or that which suspends.
1. One who or that which puts a stop to something, esp. temporarily.
| 1524 Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 108 The suspendaris of the said kirk being charply persewit for the said expensis. 1867 Contemp. Rev. V. 455 Time itself is the great suspender of controversy. |
† 2. One who suspends his judgement; a doubter, hesitator.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1625 Mountagu App. Cæsar ii. v. 146 The cautelousnes of suspenders, and not forward concluders. |
3. Sc. Law. One who presents a bill of suspension: see
suspension 4, and
cf. suspend v. 6 b.
| 1650 Acts of Sederunt 16 Jan. (1790) 63 The Lords declairis, That whair the groundis of the chairges are decreittis before inferior judges, the suspender, in that case, is onlie heirby haldin either to produce the decreitt, or ane instrument of refusall theirof. 1698 in Sir H. Dalrymple Decisions (1792) 7 The suspender having neglected the legal remedy of suspension. 1774 in A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock (1864) 303 The suspenders have given a very erroneous state of the..manner in which this green was acquired. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. s.v. Suspension, The ordinary course..is for the suspender to ask the Lord Ordinary to pronounce an order for revising the reasons of suspension and answers. 1868 Act 31 & 32 Vict. c. 100 §2 The word ‘pursuer’ shall include complainer, suspender, petitioner, or appellant. |
II. That by which something is suspended.
4. a. One of a pair of straps passing over the shoulders to hold up the trousers:
= brace n.2 9 b: usually in
pl. Chiefly
U.S.| 1810 Massachusetts Spy 23 May 3/2 Part of the buckle of his suspenders and several pieces of his coat..were extracted from the wound. 1830 Marryat King's Own ii, Loose trousers, tightened at the hips, to preclude the necessity of suspenders. 1841 Syd. Smith in Lady Holland Mem. (1855) II. 442 Correspondences are like small-clothes before the invention of suspenders; it is impossible to keep them up. 1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life Mississippi iv. 45 He wore a leather belt and used no suspenders. |
| attrib. 1833 [S. Smith] Lett. J. Downing xxii. (1835) 130 And jest then the Gineral got in a way he has of twitchin with his suspender buttons behind. |
b. A device attached to the top of a stocking or sock to hold it up in place.
| 1878 Queen 13 July (Advt.), The new stocking suspender (Patent) worn by the leaders of fashion and strongly recommended by the medical profession. 1881 Queen 18 June 6/2 (heading) The New Stocking Suspender... A handsome pair of..suspenders, in a fancy box. 1895 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 1082 Ladies' Stocking Suspenders. Ibid. 1134 Half Hose Suspenders. |
c. suspender belt, an undergarment used for holding up stockings, consisting of a belt and suspenders to which the tops of the stockings are clipped; a garter belt;
suspender clip,
end, the clip on a suspender belt.
| 1926–7 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 667/2 Suspender belts. White only..each 2/6. 1930 A. Huxley Brief Candles 303 And then that further humiliation of having to ask him to help her look for her suspender belt! 1976 Vogue 15 Mar. 79 Blue satin suspender belt, {pstlg}6.90. |
| 1973 T. Pynchon Gravity's Rainbow (1975) i. 127 Concentrating on gartering her nylons,..suspender-clips glittering silver under or behind her lacquered red fingernails. |
| 1966 Olney Amsden Price List 36 Suspender ends..Nylon Fitting 6/8 dozen cards. |
5. a. An apparatus or a natural structure which supports something suspended.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 642 The second improvement described by the patentee, is the construction of ‘suspenders’, to be substituted instead of the ordinary blocks. 1874 Cooke Fungi 168 The suspender of the larger copulative cell. 1895 Arnold & Sons' Catal. Surg. Instrum. 704 Suspender (Keetley's), with woollen bag [for scrotal hernia]. |
b. A tanning-pit in which the hides are suspended.
| 1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 384/2 In these pits (also called suspenders) the hides are suspended over poles laid across the pit, and they are moved daily from one to another of a series of four or six. |
III. Something that is suspended.
6. A hanging basket, vase, etc., as for flowers.
| 1878 Jewitt Ceramic Art I. 425 Vases, tazzas, brackets, pedestals, suspenders, terminals, flower-vases. |