trouncer
(ˈtraʊnsə(r))
[f. trounce v.1 + -er1.]
One who trounces; spec. an odd man (see odd A. 9 d); an assistant to a carman, drayman, or lorry-driver; † on a man-of-war: see quot. 1867 (obs.).
| c 1630 Dr. Triplet in Aubrey Brief Lives (1898) I. 264 When this well truss't trounser Into the school doth enter. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Trouncer, an old word for a waister. [Ibid., Waisters..had little else of duty but hoisting and swabbing the decks.] 1896 Booth in Westm. Gaz. 26 Mar. 2/1 Brewhouse men, cellar men, yardmen, coopers, filings-makers, draymen, and trouncers. 1898 A. Lang in Longm. Mag. Nov. 92 My friend and constant ‘trouncer’..has been pitching into me. 1913 M. S. Reeves Round about Pound a Week i. 2 Some of the more enviable and settled inhabitants of this part of the world [sc. Kennington]..generally are somebody's labourer, mate, or handyman. Painters' labourers..trouncers for carmen, are common amongst them. 1923 Weekly Dispatch 30 Sept. 3 It was stated that a ‘trouncer’ was a coal carman's assistant. 1953 Word for Word (Whitbread & Co.) 35/2 Trouncer, the drayman's mate; so-called because, before the improvement of roads under Telford and MacAdam, he had to ‘trounce’, i.e., push and manhandle the dray over the innumerable potholes and hazards. |