▪ I. hatter, n.
(ˈhætə(r))
[f. hat n. + -er1.]
1. A maker of or dealer in hats. as mad as a hatter: see mad.
| 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 12 Johannes de Thame ciuis, et Hatter Londonie. 1488–9 Act 4 Hen. VII, c. 9 No hatter nor capper..[shall] put to sell any hatte..above the price of xxd. 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 80 When hatters vse to bye none olde cast robes. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 331 Goats-Wool..with which our Hatters know well how to falsify their Bevers. 1836 Marryat Japhet lxx, I..stopped at a hatter's and purchased a hat according to the mode. 1837–40 Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 109 Sister Sall..walked out of the room, as mad as a hatter. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. iii, He's a very good fellow, but as mad as a hatter. |
2. One who lives or works alone, orig. a miner; a solitary bushman. Austral. and N.Z.
[Cf. hat covers his family in hat n. 5 c.]
| 1853 J. Rochfort Adv. Surveyor viii. 66 The Bendigo diggings are suitable for persons working singly... Such persons are humorously called ‘hatters’. 1864 Rogers New Rush ii. 49 Some days ago a sturdy hatter joined. 1865 B. L. Farjeon Shadows on Snow ii. 76, I was working as a ‘hatter’. 1869 R. B. Smyth Goldf. Victoria Gloss. 613 Hatter, one who works alone..The hatter leads an independent life, and nearly always holds a claim under the bye⁓laws. 1889 E. Wakefield N.Z. after 50 Yrs. vi. 165 Miners who work alone are called ‘hatters’, one explanation of the term being that they frequently go mad from the solitude of their claim away in the bush, exemplifying the proverb ‘As mad as a hatter’. 1890 Boldrewood Miner's Right iv. 37 To take to fossicking like so many ‘hatters’—solitary miners. 1903 ‘S. Rudd’ Our New Selection iv. 37 A weird, silent ‘hatter’ was there,..the strange man who lived..away from everybody. 1914 J. M. Bell Wilds of Maoriland vi. 135 At times one comes across an old hatter [near Karamea]. 1924 H. T. Gibson That Gibbie Galoot xxvii. 124 The skipper [of a timber scow] I seldom saw, for he was a ‘hatter’ and kept to his cabin and keg. 1943 V. Palmer in Coast to Coast 1942 21 People on the mainland said that McGowan was a cranky old hatter who had gone off his head because his home was broken up and was now letting his mind rot in isolation. 1944 F. Clune Red Heart 66 The ‘hatter’ was mumbling to himself in the manner of lonely outback prowlers. 1966 Southerly XXVI. 108 Rueben McGrath was..a bush ‘hatter’, a loner. |
▪ II. hatter, v. Now Sc. and north. dial.
[? Onomatopœic, with freq. ending: cf. batter, shatter, tatter, etc.]
1. trans. To bruise with blows; to batter the edge or face of, to erode. ? Obs.
| c 1450 Golagros & Gaw. 702 Helmys of hard steill thai hatterit and heuch. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. (N.), Where hattering bullets are fine sugred plums. 1806 J. Train Poet. Reveries 49 (Jam.) This hatters and chatters My very soul wi' care. |
2. To harass; to wear out, exhaust with fatigue or drudgery.
| 1687 Dryden Hind & P. i. 371 Religion shows a rosy-coloured face, Not hattered out with drudging works of grace. a 1700 Dryden (J.), He's hattered out with penance. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Hatter, to harrass and exhaust with fatigue. 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 116 From hattering chase of undeserved unrest..She rests. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss. s.v., ‘He wis sair hattert’ is said of a person who has had a bad time of it in his circumstances generally. |
▪ III. hatter
dial. var. of hotter n. and v.; obs. f. hotter, comp. of hot a.; var. heter Obs.
▪ IV. hatter, -ir, -ern
see hater n.2 Obs., clothing.