▪ I. bother, v. colloq.
(ˈbɒðə(r))
Also 8 bodder, Sc. bauther, bather.
[Etymology unknown; the earliest instances occur in the writings of Irishmen (T. Sheridan, Swift, Sterne), and the word has long formed part of the vocabulary of the comic Irishman of fiction and the stage. This suggests an Anglo-Irish origin; but no suitable etymon has been found in Irish.
The Irish bódhar deaf, bódhairim I deafen (suggested by Crofton Croker), and buaidhirt trouble, affliction, buaidhrim I vex (proposed by Garnett) alike labour under the difficulty that the spoken words do not suggest bodder or bother. Wedgwood would identify the word with pother: could bother be an Anglo-Irish corruption of the latter?]
† 1. trans. To bewilder with noise; to confuse, muddle; to put into a fluster or flutter. Obs.
| 1718 T. Sheridan To Swift in Swift's Wks. (1824) XV. 107 With the din of which tube my head you so bother. 1832–53 Whistle-Binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. i. 22 The hearts of the maids, and the gentlemen's heads, were bother'd, I'm sure, by this Irishman. |
2. a. trans. To give trouble to; to pester, annoy, worry. Also refl., and in phrase to bother one's head, bother one's brains: to trouble oneself with thinking.
| a 1745 Swift Dial. Hibern. Style Wks. VII. 156 Lord I was bodderd t'other day with that prating fool Tom. 1753 Dial. betw. Swift & Prior 123 You boddered me enough with many of these Articles, already. 1762 Sterne Let. in Traill Sterne vi. 81 Civility thus uniform wearies and bodders me to death. 1768 Foote Devil on Sticks iii, Don't let him bother us, with his yea and nay nonsense. 1852 E. Forbes Let. in Wilson & Geikie Life xiv. 506 A point that has bothered Prestwich, D'Archiac, and Dumont. 1878 Joaquin Miller Songs Italy 127 Whether you bother your brain or no. |
b. In the imperative (logically 3rd pers. sing. with implied subject after analogy of verbs of cursing) as a mild imprecation; also bother it! and absol. bother! as an exclamation indicating annoyance (confused with the n.; cf. botheration).
| 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxxiii. 281 To this amorous address Miss Brass briefly responded ‘Bother!’ 1844 ― Mart. Chuz. xlix. 564 ‘Bother Mrs. Harris!’ said Betsey Prig... ‘I don't believe there's no sich a person!’ 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxi. 215 Oh, bother! don't plague me, Emily! 1855 Thackeray Rose & Ring xvi. (1866) 106 ‘Bother your album!’ says Bulbo. 1877 Fraser's Mag. Oct. Clericality, Bother the parson! |
3. intr. and absol. To give trouble to others or to oneself; to make a fuss; to be troublesome.
| a 1774 Fergusson Election Poems (1845) 42 Lang's their debatin' thereanent, About protests they're bauthrin'. 1787 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode upon Ode Wks. 1794 I. 411 If musicians miss but half a bar, Just like an Irishman she starts to bother. 1850 Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. vii, Make money; and don't bother about the Universe. 1863 Hawthorne Pilgr. Boston in Old Home (1879) 178 We bothered a good while about getting through a..lock. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. iii. 119 To prevent the Cythrawl Sassenach from coming bothering into Wales. |
† 4. intr. and trans. (?) To blarney, to ‘humbug’.
| 1803 Bristed Pedest. Tour I. 101 Sufficient documents to enable me to bother about it, so that I could not easily be detected. Ibid. 152 As..Cowan..would be less likely to be convicted of some unfortunate blunder..than myself, I desired him to go down and bother them well. |
▪ II. bother, n.
(ˈbɒðə(r))
[f. prec. vb.]
† 1. (?) Blarney, humbug, palaver. Obs. Cf. bother v. 4, bothering.
| 1803 Bristed Pedest. Tour I. 267 Among an ignorant..peasantry the bother must consist of coarse and broad flattery laid on with a trowel. 1822 Hone Slap at Slop Facetiæ 24 In wishing that the Press should be securely chained, the Members of this Society have no desire to limit their own bother. |
2. Petty trouble, worry; disturbance, ‘fuss’.
| 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge (1859) 283 We had a little bother with him at first. 1846 B. Barton Selections (1849) 43 Without more putter and bother than the thing is worth. 1852 Thackeray Esmond iii. i. (1876) 277 The right divine, about which Dr. Sacheverel and the High Church party in England were just now making a bother. a 1884 Princess Alice Mem. 147 Mountain air Weber wants me to have, and quiet, away from all bothers. |