▪ I. tetter, n.
(ˈtɛtə(r))
Forms: 1 tetr, 1–6 teter, 4–5 tetre, 5 -yr, -ere, 6–7 -ar, 6–8 tettar, (7 teater, 9 dial. titter), 6– tetter.
[OE. teter:— OTeut. *tetru-, pre-Teut. *dedru-, Skr. dadru a kind of cutaneous disease, f. dṝ to crack; cf. Lith. dedervine tetter. The simple word is not preserved elsewhere in Teut., but cf. OHG. zitaroh (:—*titruha), MHG. ziteroch, Bav. dial. zitt(e)roch, -en, Tyrol zittrich; also mod.Ger. zittermal, zitterflechte, Swiss zitterabel tetter, ringworm.]
1. A general term for any pustular herpetiform eruption of the skin, as eczema, herpes, impetigo, ringworm, etc.
crusted tetter, pustular tetter, running tetter, impetigo; eating t., lupus; honeycomb t., favus; humid tetter or moist t., eczema; milky t., milk-blotch; scaly t., psoriasis.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. (O.E.T.) 128 Basis, teter. Ibid. 502 Inpetigo, tetr. Ibid. 791 Papula vel pustula, spryng vel tetr. c 725 Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.) 128 Balsis, teter. c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xi. 71 Se ðonne hæfð teter on his lichoman se hæfð on his mode ᵹitsunga. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 150 Heo ofᵹenimð þone scruf & þone teter. a 1050 Liber Scintill. xxv. 99 Teter witodlice hæfð on lichaman. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 61 Þere beeþ hoote bathes, þat wascheþ of teteres, oþer sores and scabbes. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 791/14 Hec serpedo,..a tetere. 1584 Cogan Haven Health xxviii. (1636) 48 For a Tettar or Ring-worme a little Mustard laid upon it within a few dayes will cure it. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 71. 1622 Hakewill David's Vow viii. 284 It is good..to kill a Tetter before it spread to a Ringworme. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 66 The true Oil of Cedar is admirable for curing Tetters. 1850 Blackie æschylus I. 125 A leprous tetter with corrosive tooth [would] Creep o'er my skin, and fasten on my flesh. |
| fig. 1641 Milton Reform. i. Wks. 1851 III. 19 What a universall tetter of impurity had invenom'd every part, order, and degree of the Church. 1647, 1705 [see ringworm 1 b]. 1693 Southerne Maid's last Prayer i. i, The mercenary itch in an old woman; 'tis the very tetter of that sex. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 145 In ran the airn by chance, And lat out baith the wind and matter, That lang had lodgit in that tetter. |
2. A cutaneous disease in animals, esp. horses.
| 1552 Huloet, Tetter for horse, herpeta. 1575 Turberv. Venerie 227 The Tettar commeth vnto many dogs naturally or by kind or by age. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. (1623) 119 To heale any Tetter, or drie scabbe in Goates. 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4400/4 A black Gelding..a Tetter on the off Breast. 1794 Sporting Mag. III. 156 A cure for warts or tetters on horses. 1819 Pantologia, Tetter, called by farriers the flying-worm, or ring-worm. It runs up and down the skin in different directions, from whence it receives its name. |
▪ II. ˈtetter, v. rare.
[f. prec.]
† 1. trans. To affect with, or as with, a tetter. Obs.
| 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. i. 79 So shall my Lungs Coine words..against those Meazels Which we disdaine should Tetter vs. |
2. intr. To crack, to disintegrate.
| 1911 J. Masefield Everlasting Mercy 30 My mind began to carp and tetter. 1967 T. Keneally Bring Larks & Heroes ii. 16 In dutiful vegetable gardens, the leaves of carrots and turnips had tettered and split, shot full of holes by antipodean summer. |