▪ I. † ˈspeller1 Obs. rare.
[f. spell v.1 Cf. MDu. spelre; G. dial. speller a gossip.]
A preacher.
| a 1200 Vices & Virtues 45 Wile ðu hlesten spelleres and priestes and munekes..ne scalt ðu næure habben god. a 1300 Cursor M. 20849 Speke we nou o þaa spellers bald,..þe apostlis þat all wide war spred. Ibid. 21179 Þir war his discipleis tuelue,..Spellers o trouth. |
▪ II. speller2
(ˈspɛlə(r))
Also 5 -are.
[f. spell v.2 So Du. and Flem. speller.]
1. One who spells, or spells out, words; one having a specified proficiency in spelling; an authority on spelling.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 468/1 Spellare, sillabicator. 1598 Chapman Sev. Bks. Iliad To Rdr., I write..to him that will disdaine those easie obiections, which euery speller may put together. 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. s.v., A good Speller, in point of Writing. Ibid., A bad Speller. 1776 Pennsylv. Even. Post 28 Mar. 160/2 He..is a poor writer and speller. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. vi. iii. II. 37 The worst speller ever known. 1882 Scudder Noah Webster ii. 38 Webster was a moralist as well as a speller. |
2. A seeker after something.
| 1796 Paine Writ. (1895) III. 217 John Adams..it is known was always a speller after places and offices. |
3. U.S. A spelling-book.
| 1864 in Webster. 1882 Scudder Noah Webster ii. 70 The popularity of ‘the speller’ rendered it liable to piracy. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 25 May 4/2 The extremely primitive primers and ‘spellers’. |
Add: 4. Comput. = spelling checker s.v. *spelling vbl. n.2 3.
| 1980 Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery XXIII. 682/1 A similar approach is including common misspellings in the dictionary with the correct spelling... This approach has not been included in any current spellers. 1986 Australian (Brisbane) 14 Oct. 48/2 Like most programs these days, it includes a speller. 1988 PC Mag. May 34/2 The best stand-alone spellers and word processors use much faster look-up routines. |
▪ III. ˈspeller3 Obs. or arch.
Also 6 speler.
[Aphetic f. espeler.]
(See quots. and spiller2.)
| 1576 Turberv. Venerie 238 In a Bucke we say, Burre, Beame, Branche, Aduauncers, Pawlme, and Spelers. 1611 Cotgr., Espois d'un cerf, the top of a red Deeres head; of a fallow, the Spellers. 1632 Guillim's Heraldry (ed. 2) iii. xiv. 179 Skilfull Wood-men describing..a bucks head..say..spellers. [Similarly in other writers.] 1659 Torriano, Spéssi,..those sharp hornes on the top of a Deers Antler called the Spellers. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 200 Whereof some of the blades are curled round, divided and jagged like the Spellers of a Bucks-head. [1857 Fraser's Mag. LVI. 211 The advancer, palm, and spellers or spillers.] |