▪ I. ganger, n.1 Obs. exc. dial. and arch.
(ˈgæŋə(r))
Also 5 gangar, 9 ganner.
[f. gang v.1 + -er1. Cf. Du. ganger, G. gänger.
OE. *gangere (Somner) is not authenticated.]
1. One who goes or travels on foot.
Rolf the Ganger, a modern rendering of ON. Gǫngu-Hrólfr (where gǫngu is the genit. of ganga: see gang), the designation of a Norseman who has been from a very early period conjecturally identified (but erroneously) with the ‘Rollo’ or ‘Rou’ of Norman history.
| 1424 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1814) II. 6/2 That thar be ordanyt hostilaris and resettis haifande stabillis and chawmeris to ridaris and gangaris. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) I. i. 5 Rolf, called the ganger or walker, as tradition relates, because his stature was so gigantic..he always fought on foot. 18.. Froude in Skelton Summ. & Wint. Balmawhapple (1897) II. 215 Long ages now beneath the soil The ganger has been lying. |
b. Phr. comers and gangers (see quot.).
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxx. 136 Prestre Iohn hase ilk a day in his courte etand ma þan xxx{supm} of folke, withouten commers and gangers. 1876 Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘Gangers and comers’, people in and out; visitors. |
2. A fast-going horse.
ON. gangari, Da. ganger steed, palfrey, common in mediæval romances and ballads, were prob. suggested by med.L. gradarius or ambulator (cf. OF. cheval ambleur) and thus different in origin and meaning.
| 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxvii, It's a weel-kend ganger; they ca' it Souple Tam. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Ganger, a goer, a speedy horse. 1868 Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Ganger, a goer, usually, if not exclusively, applied to a horse. |
3. Comb., as ganger-before, ganger-between.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 149/2 A Ganger be-twene, mediator, -trix. 1595 Duncan App. Etymol. (E.D.S.) Anteambulo, a ganger before, a convoyer. |
▪ II. ganger, n.2
(ˈgæŋə(r))
[f. gang n. or v.2 + -er1.]
An overseer in charge of a gang of workmen.
| 1849 Alb. Smith Pottleton Leg. 15 His companion..was known in the village as ‘The Ganger’..a sort of sub-contractor for the works..collecting his own men and paying them. 1860 Artist & Craftsman 278 The man was a ganger, as it is termed in the technical phraseology, a sort of serjeant of the working army. 1860 W. H. Russell Diary in India II. xxi. 409 A ganger, or head navvy..is placed over hundreds of men. 1894 Times 5 Feb. 3/2 A man named Eames acted as foreman or ganger, on board the Crowaiti, in the interests of the stevedores. |
| appositive. 1886 Daily News 28 Dec. 7/2 J. K., a ganger platelayer, deposed to finding the deceased's body. |
▪ III. ganger, n.3 Naut.
(ˈgæŋə(r))
[? Short form of foreganger.]
(See quot. 1882.)
| c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 55 The upper ends are then ready for shackling to the ganger. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 162 A ganger, two or more lengths of chain cable shackled to the sheet anchor. It enables part of the sheet cable always to remain bent. |
▪ IV. † ˈganger, v. Obs.
[back-formation from gangrene, influenced by canker: cf. It. gangrire to gangrene (Florio); also ‘Ganger, a canker, fester, venom’ (Surrey Provincialisms, E.D.S.).]
intr. To gangrene, mortify.
| 1685 M'Alpie in Harp of Renfrew. Ser. ii. (1873) 31 They..Most be cutt off like corrupt member, Least y{supt} the body all should ganger. 1696 A. de la Pryme Diary (Surtees) 102 An ape..bit his hand, which bite he slighting, it gangered and killed him. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Wound, When the Parts Ganger, you must make use of the Spirit of Motherwort. |