bruiser
(ˈbruːzə(r))
[f. bruise v. + -er1.]
1. One who bruises or crushes. Also, an operative who pulverizes materials.
| 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. iii. xviii. 81 The Brooser of the Serpents head. 1738 Wesley Hymn ‘Praise by all to Christ be given’ xvi, Serpent, see in us thy Bruiser, Feel his Power. 1863 J. Murphy Comm. Gen. iii. 20 The bruiser of the serpent's head. 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §056 Sample bruiser; pulverises average sample of ore with flat-headed hammer, ready for sampler. |
2. In the phraseology of the prize-ring: A professional boxer, a prize-fighter. Also gen., a brawny, muscular man.
| 1744 H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann (1834) II. cxvi. 6 He let into the pit great numbers of bear-garden bruisers (that is the term) to knock down everybody that hissed. 1754 Connoisseur No. 10 (1774) I. 77 Has no more claims to heroism, than the case-hardened valour of a bruiser or prize-fighter. 1796 J. Anstey Pleader's Guide 202 A secret joy the Bruiser knows In giving and receiving blows. 1811 Byron Curse Min. xi, Be all the bruisers cull'd from all St. Giles'. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets x. 330 Polydeuces was a notable bruiser. 1907 Daily Chron. 11 Oct. 3/3 A ‘hero’ of a sufficiently ‘bruiser’ type to please the most athletic-minded youth. 1934 J. T. Farrell Young Manhood (1936) iv. 205 Two of the bruisers were drawing close to him. He started to run. |
3. Hunting slang. See bruise v. 7.
| 1830 R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunt. Songs, Woore Country vi, On a light thorough-bred there's a bruiser. |
4. A concave tool used in grinding lenses or the specula of telescopes. Also, any machine, tool, or other implement used for bruising or crushing.
In quot. 1828 applied to a tooth.
| 1777 Mudge in Phil. Trans. LXVII. 304 A concave tool or bruiser, with which..the brass grinder, and the hones are to be formed. c 1790 J. Imison Sch. Arts II. 108 All the emery strokes are ground off from the bruiser. 1828 Fleming Brit. Anim. 9 In the lower jaw [of the badger], the bruiser is small, the chewer large. 1881 Ogilvie (Annandale), Bruiser.., the name of various machines for bruising grain, &c., for feeding cattle. |