▪ I. courser1
(ˈkɔəsə(r))
[In earlier sense immediately repr. OF. courseur, L. cursōr-em, n. of action from currĕre to run: in later senses prob. directly f. course v. or course n. + -er1.]
† 1. A runner; one who runs in a race, a racer.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 267 (Cott.) Cursur [v.r. cursor, coursur] o werld man aght it call For almast it ouer-rennes all. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 309 A certain courser, intending to try his speed at the Olympick games. |
† 2. One who chases or pursues. Obs.
| 1590 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. 16 The greatest coursers, and professed hunters of dumbe dogs. 1673 Wycherley Gentl. Dancing-Master i. ii, If he cannot protect us from the constable, and these midnight coursers, 'tis not a house for us. |
† 3. courser of bulls: a bull-baiter. Obs.
| 1599 Minsheu Dial. Sp. & Eng. (1623) 20, I was once a courser of Buls, and I alwaies tooke pleasure in fierce Buls. |
† 4. A disputant in the schools (in Oxford University): see course v. 7 b. Obs.
| 1658 Wood Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) I. 242 A noted sophister and a remarkable courser..in the public schooles. 1688 Miege Fr. Dict., Courser or Disputant in Schools. |
5. One who practises the sport of coursing.
| 1781 P. Beckford Hunting (1802) 29 Some coursers even pretend, that all, not being of the fashionable colour, are curs, and not greyhounds. 1824 Byron Juan xvi. lxxx, Hunters bold, and coursers keen. 1870 D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports §1910 The fore-legs..are more important organs in the greyhound than many a courser imagines. |
b. A dog used for coursing.
| 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme vii. xxix. 855 Collers hung with bels put about the dogs neckes which are called coursers. 1882 Daily News 15 Feb. 4/6 A sale of greyhounds..[The] famous courser Salamis brought 245 guineas. 1886 Pall Mall G. 14 Dec. 14/1 Some twenty greyhounds..racers and not coursers. |
6. A building stone used in forming a course.
| 1885 Blacklaw Quarry Price List, Coursers 6 in. by 6 in. 3½d per lineal foot. |
▪ II. courser2
(ˈkɔəsə(r))
Forms: 4 courcere, corsour, 4–5 coursere, coursour, 5 cursoure, (5 courcyer, corsiare, coreser, couresere, cowrssor, -ser, corsowyr), 5–6 curser, 6 cursore, coursar, 6–9 Sc. cursour, 4– courser.
[a. F. coursier, OF. corsier = Pr. corsier, It. corsiere:—L. type *cursārius, f. cursus: see course. In ME. the ending -our was often erroneously substituted.]
1. orig. A large powerful horse, ridden in battle, in a tournament, etc. [cf. course n. 5]; a charger.
b. Since 17th c. usually taken as: A swift horse, a racer. But in either sense now only poetic or rhetorical.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 4056 And sette him on an hygh corsour. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 41 A courser, that he sholde ride Into the felde. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle v. x. (1483) 101 A fayre courcyer brydeled with gold. 1484 Caxton Chivalry 25 Kniȝtes ouȝt to take coursers to Iuste and to go to tornoyes. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. 551 Vpon a bardit curser stout and bald. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 232 This Colgernus vpone ane cursour wycht, With speir in hand all cled in armor brycht. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. ii. 51 That they may breake his foaming Coursers backe, And throw the Rider headlong in the Lists. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 421 The Courser of Naples..though he be not so swift as the Spanish Genet, yet is he better able to indure travell, and to beare the weight of Armor. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 35 Armed at all pieces, and mounted on a great Courser. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. xlviii. 58 He entered the lists on a fiery courser. 1867 Bryant Poems, Brighter Day ii, The fiery coursers fling Their necks aloft, and snuff the morning wind. |
| b. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 27 Then I..a hundred Coursers from the Goal will drive. 1719 Young Busiris i. i, Ethiopia sends A thousand coursers fleeter than the wind. 1839 Thirlwall Greece VI. 223 He alighted from his chariot, mounted a fleet and eager courser. |
2. A stallion. Obs. or Sc.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 79 A Cowrssor, admissarius. 1570 Levins Manip. 72/22 A courser, equus admissarius. 1808 Jamieson, Cursour, couser, cusser, a stallion. 1862 A. Hislop Prov. Scot. 5 A fey man and a cursour fears na the deil. |
3. Comb., as courser-breeding ppl. adj.
| 1725 Pope Odyss. xxi. 374 Wide Elis' courser-breeding plain. |
▪ III. courser3 Zool.
(ˈkɔəsə(r))
[ad. L. cursōrius, orig. adj. ‘adapted to running’, used subst. as a generic name.]
A bird of the genus Cursorius, noted for swift running; esp. C. isabellinus, the cream-coloured courser, a native of Northern Africa, very rarely seen in England.
| 1766 Pennant Zool. II. 108. 1840 tr. Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 237 We shall place near the plovers and oyster-catchers, the Courser. 1878 T. Hardy Ret. Native i. x, A cream-coloured courser had used to visit this hill, a bird so rare that not more than a dozen have ever been seen in England. |
▪ IV. courser4
var. of corser, Obs., dealer.