▪ I. caulker
(ˈkɔːkə(r))
Forms: 5– calker, 6 cawker, 7– caulker.
[f. caulk v. + -er1.]
1. One whose work it is to caulk ships.
| 1495 Act. 11 Hen. VII, xxii. §1 A maister Calker by the day iiijd. 1552 Huloet, Calkers betle, or malle to dryue in towe. 1611 Bible Ezek. xxvii. 9, 27. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xvi. 55 One was a ship wright, and the other a Caulker. 1780 Coxe Russ. Disc. 107 Old cordage fit for caulker's use. 1802 Naval Chron. VII. 370 The..caulkers continued at their work. |
2. A tool for caulking, ? a caulking-iron.
| 1543 Richmond. Wills (1853) 43 Iij payre of pynsowrs, vid...ij cawkers, ijd. 1779 Naval Chron. (1799) I. 203 It..shivered two caulkers to pieces. 1899 Daily News 10 June 8/7 The pneumatic caulkers. |
3. slang. A dram, a ‘drop’ of liquor. [? something ‘to keep out the wet’.]
| 1808 J. Mayne Siller Gun 89 (Jam.) The magistrates wi' loyal din, Tak aff their cau'kers. 1832–53 Whistle-binkie (Sc. Songs) Ser. iii. 89 Wi' here tak' a caulker, and there tak' a horn. a 1854 J. Wilson Trees, Neither you nor I..can be much the worse..of a caulker of whiskey. |
4. slang. Anything surprising or incredible; cf. crammer.
▪ II. caulker
var. of calker2.