▪ I. pouter, n.1
(ˈpaʊtə(r))
[f. pout v.1 + -er1.]
1. One who pouts (intr. or trans.).
| 1809 Malkin Gil Blas xi. ix. ¶5 The pouters and ill⁓wishers were soon revenged. a 1861 D. Gray Poet. Wks. (1874) 44 Sleep! Soft bedewer of infantine eyes, Pouter of rosy little lips! |
2. A breed of the domestic pigeon characterized by a great power of inflating the crop: cf. pouting ppl. a. quot. 1693.
| 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Pigeon, Such Pigeons will breed nine or ten Pair of young ones in a Year, for the little Huff of Wind thrown in from the Powter gives them Heat and Mirth. 1766 Pennant Zool. I. 218 The varieties..are distinguished by names expressive of their several properties, such as Tumblers, Carriers, Jacobines, Croppers, Powters,..&c. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge i, The wheeling and circling flights of runts, fantails, tumblers, and pouters. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1878) 16 The pouter has a much elongated body..: its enormously developed crop, which it glories in inflating, may well excite astonishment. |
3. A fish, the whiting-pout.
| 1889 Lancet 16 Nov. 1024/2 Small haddocks and rock pouters—cheap, common fish—are often..sold at a high price for whiting. |
4. attrib.: pouter-fish = 3; pouter-pigeon = 2.
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 123/1 Specimens of the ‘tumbler’ but not one of the common ‘pouter’ pigeon. 1883 J. D. Curtis in Moloney W. Afr. Fisheries 68 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) Barracouta, porpoises, bonito,..cat-fish, and pouter-fish are to be found on the Gold Coast. 1886 J. K. Jerome Idle Thoughts ix. (1896) 105 Sticking out his chest, and strutting about the room like a pouter-pigeon. |
▪ II. pouter, n.2
see under pout v.2
▪ III. pouter, v. Sc.
(ˈpaʊtə(r))
Also 6 powtter, 9 powter.
[Origin and sense-history obscure: cf. potter, pother. (Sense 1 may be a different word.)]
† 1. trans. (?) To span with a stride. Obs.
| a 1568 Droichis Part of Play 74 (Bann. MS.). The hingand brayis on adir syde Scho powtterit with hir lymmis wyde. |
2. a. intr. To poke, to stir; ‘to rummage in the dark’ (Jam.); to potter.
| 1814 Scott Wav. lxiv, Powtering wi' his fingers amang the het peat-ashes and roasting eggs. 1832–53 Carrick in Whistle-Binkie (Scot. Songs) Ser. ii. 123 She would pouter a while, afore the fire could len' ony light for me to come hame wi'. 1838 A. Rodger Poems 281, I began to grape for 't syne, Thrang poutrin' wi' my staff, man. |
b. trans. To poke; to get by poking or groping.
| 1835 Carrick Laird of Logan 133 (E.D.D.) Just gang awa out and pouter a few [potatoes] frae the roots o' the shaws wi' your hands. 1892 Lumsden Sheep-head 208 He poutert the ase [poked the ashes] wi' his fore finger to see gin he couldna fin' some sma' unburned remnant. |