comforter
(ˈkʌmfətə(r))
Forms: 4 con-, cum-, coum-, comfortour(e, 5 confourtour, (comforthther), 5–6 conforture, 6– comforter.
[a. Anglo-Fr. confortour:— OF. conforteor (in nom. confortère):—L. type *confortātōr-em, agent-n. f. confortāre: see comfort v. and -er.]
1. a. One who or that which comforts or consoles.
| 1382 Wyclif Job xvi. 2 Alle ȝee ben heuye coumfortoures. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 119 (Add. MS.) The blissed Virgyn marie, that is conforture of alle desolate. 1576 Fleming Panoplie Ep. 66 Most unmeete to minister consolation..for..that I mee selfe stoode in neede of a comforter. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 195 It [sleep] sildome visits sorrow, when it doth, it is a Comforter. 1752 Fielding Amelia iii. ii, The doctor is the best of comforters. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 509 The comforter of the afflicted. 1856 Miss Mulock J. Halifax xxxix, She would be to him at once wife and child, plaything and comforter. |
b. Theol. A title of the Holy Spirit.
[= Of. confortere(s, -teor, transl. L. consōlātor, a common rendering since 7th c. of Gr. παράκλητος (John xiv. 16, etc.), properly = advocatus ‘advocate, intercessor’, as commonly taken in the early Latin Church. In the Vulgate, Jerome retained the Gr. untranslated as paracletus: see Paraclete. Isidore, a 640, says (Orig. vii. iii. 10) ‘Spiritus sanctus, quod dicitur paracletus, a consolatione dicitur..Consolator enim tristibus mittitur..Alii paracletum dicunt Latine oratorem vel advocatum interpretari.’ The Fr. Gloss. de Douai (14th c.) ed. Escallier, has ‘Paraclitus, conforteres’.]
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 190 Þe holygoost..confortoure of creatures. 1382 Wyclif John xiv. 16, I schal preie the fadir, and he schal ȝyue to ȝou another coumfortour. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 293 Holy goste conforture of fatherless and motherlesse. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 486 Hee to his own a Comforter will send. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 273 ¶9 The whole God-head..under the Three-fold Distinction of a Creator, a Redeemer, and a Comforter! 1827 Keble Chr. Y. Good Friday ii. 6 Where..The very Comforter in light and love descends. a 1875 Monsell Hymn ‘When I had wandered’, My Father, Saviour, Comforter. |
c. Job's comforter: a proverbial phrase for one who intends or professes to comfort, but does the opposite (see Job xvi. 2).
| [1680 Hickeringill Meroz 29 Those Preachers are like Jobs Comforters.] 1870 M. Bridgman R. Lynne II. iv. 88 She was a veritable Job's comforter. 1883 Harper's Mag. Nov. 905/2 Such Job's comforters as these. |
† 2. A small kind of spaniel. Obs.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. (1808) I. 387 The spaniell gentle, or comforter. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 186/1 The Spaniel Gentle, or the Comforter, is a little pretty kind of Spaniel, of the least sort, such as Gentle-Women cary in their bosoms. 1790 T. Bewick Quadrupeds (1824) 364 The comforter..is generally kept by the ladies as an attendant of the toilette or the drawing-room. |
† 3. One who aids, countenances, or abets. (Chiefly a legal term.) Obs.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 72 A Comforthther, confortator. 1495 Act 11 Henry VII, c. 64 Pream., Helpers, socourers and comforteris. 1570 Act 13 Eliz. c. 2 §4 All and every Aiders, Comforters, or Maintainers of the said..Offenders. |
† 4. An invigorating agent; a cordial. Obs.
| 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 45 The same comforter, which they name the three Sanders, prepared of the Apothecaries. |
5. A thing that produces physical comfort.
| 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville II. 242 A trusty plaid; an old and valued travelling companion and comforter. 1844 Kinglake Eöthen xii, The tchibouque—great comforter of those that are hungry and way-worn. |
6. a. A long woollen scarf worn round the throat as a protection from cold.
| 1823 C. J. Mathews Diary 7 Nov. (1879) I. 83 Two shirts, two waistcoats, a woollen comforter over my chin. 1833 T. Hook Widow & Marquess xii, A green and white net comforter. 1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma iii. 8 Divesting himself of a great coarse blue and white worsted comforter. 1868 Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art ii. 114 Knitting comforters for her cousins. |
b. A quilted coverlet; = comfort n. 8, comfortable B. 2 c. (U.S.)
| 1832 S. G. Goodrich Syst. Univ. Geogr. 107 Padding or quilting bed coverings or comforters. 1840 Boston Almanac 126 Theodore Baker..has for sale..Quilts, Counterpanes, Comforters, Bockings, Crumb Cloths. 1864 Webster, Comforter..4. A wadded quilt; a comfort. (U.S.) 1878 Mrs. Stowe Poganuc P. i. 5 With a neat comforter of quilted cotton. 1947 Chicago Daily News News-Views 29 Mar. 5/2 A quilting bee with neighbors... It's a pleasant way to spend an afternoon as well as finish a comforter. |
7. A dummy teat put into a baby's mouth to quieten it.
| 1898 Daily News 11 Mar. 3/1 Sucking air from a comforter (that is an indiarubber teat), which led, alas! to no bottle. 1912 A. M. N. Lyons Clara x. 99, I shall take you to a copper and give you up for stealin' the baby's comforter. |
Hence ˈcomfortered ppl. a., wearing a comforter (sense 6 a).
| 1880 R. Broughton Sec. Th. i. v, A few ulstered, comfortered men..waiting for the night mail. |