▪ I. slayer1
(ˈsleɪə(r))
Forms: α. 4–5 sleer, 4–6 sleere, 5–6 slear, 6 Sc. sleyar. β. 4 -slaer, -sloer, 5–6 slaar(e, slaer (5 sclaer). γ. 6– slayer (6 Sc. slayar).
[f. slay v.1 + -er1; the compound manslayer is found a little earlier. Cf. MDu. and Du. slager, MLG. slegere (LG. släger), OHG. slagari and slahari (G. schläger).]
One who slays or kills. Also in fig. context.
| α c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 151 Þei schullen be dampnyd..for sleeris of crist wiþ þe wickid iewis. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 373 Whan þe kyng was i-slawe, þe sleere fliȝ. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 54 Opun slears and traytors of þe schep. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 227 Then Hispias..commaundede the sleer of his brother to be taken. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems ix. 50 God for till honour,..no sleyar to be. 1581 Lambarde Eirenarcha ii. vii. 239 Any other, betweene whom and the slear there is no speciall ligeance. |
| β a 1400–50 Alexander 967 It gladis me..to ga þus to deth, To se my slaare..be sa sone ȝolden. c 1470 Henry Wallace xi. 1278 The fyrst has bene a gret slaar off men. 1533 Bellenden Livy ii. xviii. (S.T.S.) I. 200 Sum allegis his fader was þe slaar of him. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 210 The slaers of Drumm sulde be banist to France. |
| γ 1547–64 Baldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 185 Men ought not to weepe for him that guiltles is slain, But for the slayer. c 1575 Diurn. Occurr. (Bann.) 121 Ane of the alledgit slayaris of the king. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iii. §14. 211 When he slayeth a malefactour he is not to be counted a slayer of men, but a destroyer of evill men. 1737 Whiston Josephus, Hist. vi. viii, The slayers left off at the evening. 1791 Cowper Iliad iv. 536 The slayer o'er the maim'd Exulting. 1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 217 Each pestle's displayer, Who, living by drugs, proves humanity's slayer. 1884 Manch. Exam. 10 May 5/5 The mutilators and slayers of pigeons. |
▪ II. slayer2
(ˈsleɪə(r))
[f. slay v.2 + -er1.]
One who sets warps.
| 1881 Census Instr. (1885) 64. 1899 Daily News 12 Jan. 2/1 Father,..Blacksmith. Boy,..Slayer. |