▪ I. † spencer, n.1 Obs.
Also 4 spensere, 4–5 spenser, 6 Sc. spensar; 5 spencere.
[a. AF. espenser (cf. spence2), var. of despenser, OF. despencier, dispenser.]
One who dispenses or has charge of the provisions in a household; a steward or butler.
| α a 1300 Cursor M. 4447 Þe spenser and þe botelar bath þe king self wit þaim was wrath. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 413 Þus a clerk or spenser of a curat may parte þes godis in þe name of hym. 14.. Lat.-Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 561 Acellarius, a spenser. c 1480 Henryson Fables, Town & C. Mouse xix, The spensar come with keyis in his hand. |
| β c 1400 Gamelyn 493 Adam þe spencer toke vp þe clothe. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 175 After he was kynge, he wedded hure.., His owne spencers douȝter he [= she] was. 1483 Cath. Angl. 354/1 A Spencer, vbi A butler. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Despensier, qui a la garde de la viande, a spencer. |
▪ II. spencer, n.2
(ˈspɛnsə(r))
[From the family name Spencer. In sense 1 prob. from that of Charles Spencer, third Earl of Sunderland (1674–1722); in sense 2 from that of George John Spencer, second Earl Spencer (1758–1834); in sense 3 from that of Mr. Knight Spencer (fl. 1803); in sense 5, from the name of Christopher Miner Spencer (1833–1922), U.S. inventor and manufacturer.]
† 1. A kind of wig. Also attrib. Obs.
| 17.. Songs & P. on Costume (Percy Soc.) 206 At us the fribbles may strut and look big, In their spencers, bobs, and ramelies. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. xv, A gold laced hat, a spencer wig, and a silver hilted hanger. 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty xvi. 218 The uniform ‘diamond’ of a card was filled up by the flying dress..of the little capering figure in the spencer-wig. |
2. A short double-breasted overcoat without tails worn by men in the latter part of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th.
Hence G. spencer, spenser, now spenzer, WFlem. spensel.
| 1795 Sporting Mag. V. 324/2 Spencers. These fashionable coatlets. Ibid. VI. 41/2 A young gentleman then approaching, dressed in a light coat, and a blue spencer. 1796 Ibid. VII. 311 The economical garment called a spencer. 1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 126 This occasioned..on my part a pretended alarm for fear that his coat should become a spencer. 1853 Dickens Bleak Ho. xxiv, A very respectable old gentleman,..dressed in a black spencer and gaiters and a broad-brimmed hat. 1899 C. K. Paul Memories 81 Bethell was the last man who wore a ‘spencer’, an over-jacket which allowed the tails of a dress⁓coat to appear below it. |
b. A kind of close-fitting jacket or bodice commonly worn by women and children early in the 19th century, and since revived.
| 1799 J. Woodforde Diary 19 June (1931) V. 200 Very cold indeed again today, so cold that Mrs. Custance came walking in her Spenser with a Bosom-friend. 1803 W. Wittman Trav. Turkey 442 They wear a kind of short spencer of green silk or satin. 1836–7 Dickens Sk. Boz, Scenes xiv, There was a considerable talking among the females in the spencers. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 69 The women were mostly dressed in..some sort of dark jacket or spencer. |
| attrib. 1883 Cassell's Mag. Dec. 43/2 A resuscitation is the Spencer bodice, as much like those of forty years ago as can be. |
c. A short coat or jacket.
| 1831 J. Brown Let. 26 Oct. (1912) 27 Then there is the odd dress of the sailors, with bright yellow worsted spencers and large slouched hats. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xx. 141 Some wore leathern calzoneros, with a spencer or jerkin of the same material. 1879 Stevenson Trav. Cevennes 10 My travelling wear of country velveteen, pilot-coat, and knitted spencer. |
d. A type of under-bodice (usu. made of wool) worn esp. by women and girls to provide extra warmth in winter.
| 1881 in A. Adburgham Shops & Shopping (1964) xvii. 189 Light, elastic, inexpensive [hand-knitted clothes], including Jerseys, Cardigans, Vests, Spencers, Combinations, etc. 1924 [see hug-me-tight 1]. 1953 ‘P. Wentworth’ Ivory Dagger xvii. 69 Miss Silver stood revealed in a slip petticoat of grey artificial silk and a neat white spencer whose high neck and long sleeves had..a narrow crochet edging. 1972 L. Hancock There's a Seal in my Sleeping Bag viii. 204, I wore two spencers (Australian item of thermal underwear). |
3. A form of life-belt.
| 1803 Phil. Mag. XVI. 172 Account of the Marine Spencer for the Preservation of Lives in Cases of Shipwreck. 1806 Ann. Reg., Usef. Proj. (1808) 980/2 Swimming spencers, which..consist of a cork girdle. |
4. slang. (See quot.)
| 1804 Sporting Mag. XXIII. 220 A small glass of gin in St. Giles's [is called] a Spencer. |
5. A type of rim-fire repeating rifle or carbine used esp. during the U.S. Civil War. Freq. attrib.
| 1866 ‘F. Kirkland’ Pictorial Bk. Anecdotes & Incidents 660/1 Harris ordered the skirmish line forward,..with orders to silence the troublesome battery..with the aid of the Spencer rifle. 1873 J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West 545 My horse, bridle, saddle, lariat, gun (a Spencer) and two Navajo blankets cost me two hundred dollars. 1904 Kynoch Jrnl. Apr.–June 96 The second repeater—and the one most prominent in the war—was the Spencer, having a magazine in the butt containing seven cartridges. 1923 J. H. Cook Fifty Yrs. on Old Frontier 5, I had traded a pistol..for a Spencer carbine. 1949 Exciting Western May 36/2 The .52 Spencer he kept under the bunk was a souvenir of Malvern Hill. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia IX. 412/1 Spencer carbine, military rifle with a magazine in the buttstock that contained seven cartridges. The cartridges were fed into the chamber by means of a trigger-guard operating lever. |
▪ III. spencer, n.3 Naut.
(ˈspɛnsə(r))
[Perhaps of similar origin to prec.]
A fore-and-aft sail, set with a gaff, serving as a trysail to the fore or main mast of a vessel.
| 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast v, We had got her down to close-reefed topsails, double-reefed trysail, and reefed fore spenser. 1851 Kipling Sailmaking (ed. 2) 5 There are the fore-trysail, main-trysail, and mizen-trysail, or as they are sometimes called the fore-spencer, Duke of York or main-spencer, and storm-mizen. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. xix. §807 At 8 p.m...hove to under close-reefed main top-sail and spencer. |
| attrib. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast v, The chief mate..was standing..at the foot of the spenser-mast. Ibid. xxv, The captain ordered the fore and main spencer gaffs to be lowered down. |
▪ IV. † ˈspencer, v. Obs.—1
(Meaning obscure.)
| 1831 Examiner 278/1 The accomplished Sir Robert Gresley has arrived in Newark, and has offered to display his pugilistic prowess in the Market-place, having been spencered by the people. |