▪ I. wether
(ˈwɛðə(r))
Forms: α. 1, 3 weðer, 3–4 weþer, 4–5 wethur, -ir, 5 wethyr, -ire, 6 wethar, 6–9 weather, 4– wether; 4–5 whethir, -ur, 4–6 whether, 5 whetther. β. 4, 6 weder, wedir, 5 wedyr, wedor; 5–9 wedder (5 -ur, -yr); Sc. 5–6 vedder, weddir, 6 wadder, wodder, weadder.
[Common Teutonic: OE. weðer = OFris. *wether (NFris. wether, WFris. weer), OLFrank. wither (MDu. weder, Du. weer), OS. withar, -er (MLG. weder, wêr, LG. weer), OHG. widar, -er, -ir (MHG. wider, G. widder), ON. and Icel. veðr (Norw. veder, ver; MSw. väþur, wädhur, etc., Sw. vädur, Da. væder), Goth. wiþrus (= lamb), prob. related to L. vitulus calf.]
1. A male sheep, a ram; esp. a castrated ram. See also bell-wether.
| α c 890 Wærferth tr. Gregory's Dial. 34 He breac on þam hælftre for bridelse & weþera fella for sadole. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 576 His biᵹleofa wæs ælce dæᵹ..hundteontiᵹ weðera. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3998 On ilc alter fier alðerneðer, And ðoron an calf and a weðer. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1210 Vourti þousend of ruþeren he let quelle þer to, & of fatte weþeren an hondred þousend al so. a 1300 Cursor M. 11649 Wolf and weþer, leon and ox, Sal comen samen, and lamb and fox. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxx. 35 And he seuerde that day the she geyt, and the sheep, and the hyeȝ geyt, and the wetheres. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P. R. viii. x. (1495) 310 As a whetther in lyenge vpon oo syde tornyth and chaungyth by egall tymes. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb.) 81 Ysaac..was delyvred fro dede And a wethire cleving in breres sacrified in his stede. 1533 in Weaver Wells Wills (1890) 2 John Horley oon whether,..ii yewes. 1588 Lambarde Eiren., Precedents (1591) Y y j b, Tres oues castratas (anglicè vocatas Weathers). a 1589 L. Mascall Cattle, Sheep (1596) 236 In some places they doe..point the wethers, the yeaws, and the lambes ech by themselues. 1599 Shakes. etc. Pass. Pilgr. 272 My weathers bell rings dolefull knell. 1616 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iv. 95 The Weathers bell that leads our flocke around. 1671 Milton Samson 538 Who shore me Like a tame Weather, all my precious fleece. 1676 Lond. Gaz. No. 1122/4 Lost or stolen..45 Sheep, called Western Weathers. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 409 Some mingling stir the melted tar..; Others the unwilling wether drag along. 1747 Smollett Reproof 71 All senior members of the horned race.—The weather, goat, ram, elk and ox were there. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. 343 Two pigs, a cow, and wethers half a score, Increased his stock. 1861 Times 7 Oct., For wethers the average prices obtained were 38s. to 56s. 1870 Bryant Iliad xii. 541 As when a shepherd carries home with ease A wether's fleece. |
| β a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxiv. 14 Cled ere wedirs of shepe. 1375 Barbour Bruce vii. 115 And ane of thame apon his hals A mekill bundyn weddir bare. Ibid. 152 Thai slew the veddir at thai bar. 1387 Trevisa Hidgen III. 127 Daniel seiȝ þe fifte siȝt and visioun of þe weder þat hadde hornes nouȝt al i-liche. c 1425 Non-Cycle Mystery Plays (1909) 33 Turn þe & take þat wedyr there, & sacrifye hym on þat awtere. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 290 At ans he wolde ete a quarter of a weddur, or ij hennys, or a guse. 1479 Bury Wills (Camden) 53 And also the same Edmund haue cccc weders in my flokke of Ryngmer. 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §53 It is than best tyme to..seuer theym in dyuers sortes,..the lambes by theym-selfe, wedders and the rammes by them-self. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 5443 Quhat holynes is thare within Ane wolf cled in ane Wodderis skin? a 1585 Montgomerie Flyting 205 Fore store of lambes and lang-tailde wedders. c 1610 Sir J. Melville Mem. (Bannatyne Club) 382 Bot some yearly nomber of wethers wilbe easely granted, be them that possess presently the saidis stoir rowmes. 1681 S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 85 Two three beggars,..Who stealing public geese and wedders, Were freed, by rendering skin and feathers. 1796 W. Marshall West Eng. I. 263 The wedders, of the best sort, fat perfectly well, at two years old. 1830 Cumb. Farm. Rep. 55 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Sheep generally fed off by turnips are the best description of Cheviot wedders. 1861 Times 16 Oct., Wedders commonly clip 7½lb. of wool. 1888 J. Inglis Tent Life Tigerland 96 What might be the price of wedders now in Australy? |
b. transf. of a man;
spec. a eunuch.
| 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII (1550) 187 b, So the great wether which is of late fallen..so craftely, so scabedly, ye & so vntruly iuggled wyth the kynge, that [etc.]. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 114, I am a tainted Weather of the flocke, Meetest for death. 1724 Gay Captives Epil. 19 But the soft voice of an Italian weather, Makes them all languish three whole hours together. |
† 2. Occasional uses.
a. A battering ram.
b. The zodiacal sign of the Ram.
| 14.. MS. Digby 233 lf. 182/1 As þe instrument þat hatte þe wether smyteþ þe walles of a cyte þat is byseged. 1565 Googe tr. Palingenius' Zodiac xi. PP vij, The other by the Balance runnes, and by the Wethers face. |
3. grey wethers: boulders of hard sandstone found lying on the surface of the Downs in Wiltshire and Devon.
| 1661 J. Childrey Brit. Baconica 49 Upon the Downs between Marleborough and Aubury..are to be found abundance of great stones, commonly called by the Country thereabout, the Gray Weathers. 1681 Grew Musæum iii. 291 A course sort of Jasper Stones, knockt off from those in Wilts-shire near Marleborough, called The Grey-Weathers. 1743 Stukeley Abury 48 An infinite quantity of immense stones, or sarsens, or gray-weathers. 1801 H. Skrine Rivers Gt. Brit. 331 Those vast stones called ‘The Grey Withers [sic]’, are scattered irregularly about the country. 1835–95 [see grey a. 8]. |
4. Comm. The fleece obtained from the second or any subsequent shearing of a sheep.
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 260/1 (Wool) To good, healthy, sound fleeces more than one year old the term ‘wethers’ is given. 1895 Agric. Gaz. 17 June 538/3 Super-super wethers, 9½d.;..selected Yorkshire wethers, 73/4d.; deep wethers, 9d. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
wether fleece,
wether-flock,
wether haggis,
wether-mutton,
wether-skin;
wedderbouk Sc., the carcass of a wether;
wether-gammon, a leg of mutton;
† wether gang Sc., a pasture or right of pasturage for wethers (see
gang n.1 4 c);
wether-getter, a ram kept for breeding wethers;
† wether goat, a castrated goat;
wether head, a sheep's head;
fig. a stupid person;
wether hog, a male sheep (castrated or not) before its first shearing; also
wether hog sheep (
cf. hog n.1 4); chiefly
Sc. and
north.;
wether lamb, a male lamb;
† wether-silver Sc., money in lieu of a wether paid as a customary rent or tax;
wether teg = wether hog. Also
wether sheep.
| 15.. Aberd. Reg. (Jam.), ijs. Scottis for half ane *wedder⁓bouk. |
| 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (1898) 163 Pelleus..Sende..Iason..into the Ile of Calcos to wyn the *wethyr fleis of golde. |
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 321 In favour rather of keeping a *weather-flock than an ewe-flock on the hill-country. 1886 C. Scott Sheep-farming 31 Wedder flocks are generally kept on the highest hirsel of the farm. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xi, The wether flock which had been lost. |
| a 1774 Fergusson Poems, Drink Eclogue 84 Wi' skelps like this fock sit but seenil down To *wether-gammon. |
| 1561 in Dunfermline Reg. (Bannatyne Club) 427 Item the bouplaces and *wedder gangis within the parrochin of Dunfermling, lxxxxvj. li. 1609 in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1610, 154/1 Cum pastura super Pidmidle et lie Weddergang earundem. |
| 1790 W. Marshall Midland Co. I. 422 The characteristic difference between what is called a ‘ramgetter’, and a ‘*weddergetter’ or a ‘good grazier's sheep’. |
| 1671 T. Hunt Abeced. Scholast. 52 Caper, a *Weather-Goat. 1772 Nugent Hist. Friar Gerund I. 35 To drub this Signior Barbi-castron, this false-bearded wether-goat. |
| 1789 Burns ‘Ken ye ought’ 8 Is he slain by Highlan' bodies?.. And eaten like a *wether haggis? |
| a 1796 ― Grace bef. Dinner, And send us from thy bounteous store A tup or *weather head! 1869 Le Fanu Wyvern Myst. II. 102 Why didn't ye tell me, ye d―d wetherhead? |
| 1537 N.C. Wills (Surtees 1908) 103, I geve unto..John half a hundreth of share *wedder hogges. 1541 in Gage Hengrave (1822) 118 Item, lix wether hogg shepe at xiiijd. the pece. 1614, 1794 [see hog n.1 4 b]. 1776 Compl. Grazier (ed. 4) 149 So of the male sheep, we may reckon them wedder or wedder hogs, after they are..of a year's growth. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 38 [In Scotland] a female is called a ewe-hogg, a male a tup-hogg, and a castrated male a wether-hogg. |
| c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 758/12 Hic agnus, a *wedyrlombe. 1595 Nottingham Rec. IV. 62 Unus agniculus (Anglice ‘a wether lambe’). 1801 Farmer's Mag. Aug. 360 Wedder lambs..are selling from 10s. to 12s. and 13s. per head. 1815 Sporting Mag. XLV. 227 She..gave me a detail of their management in buying their wether lambs and fattening their wethers. 1886 C. Scott Sheep-farming 115 The best ewe lambs..are retained, and all the wether and the second ewe lambs are sent to the market. |
| 1707 J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 171 She never dress'd *Weather-Mutton, when she could get Ewe or Goat. 1824 in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1825) 281 Does Mr. Giblet, the butcher, reserve his..weather-mutton for better customers? 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 100 Wether-mutton is the meat in perfection. |
| 1557 in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1598, 223/1 Custum-mert-sylver, custum-*wadder-silver. |
| c 1560 A. Scott Poems ii. 128 Bettir we bath wer byand hyddis And *weddir skynnis at hame. 1917 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 676/2 [temp. 1750–90] Wood and wedder-skins and grain packed for export to the South. |
| 1550 in Phillipps Wills (c 1830) 180 Forty *Wether Teggs. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 39 In England..sheep bear the name of lamb until 8 months old, after which they are called ewe and wether teggs until once clipped. |
▪ II. wether obs. f. weather,
whether,
whither.