▪ I. † lister1 Obs.
Also 4 listre, 4–5 lyster, 5 -are, -yr, -ore, lyysterre.
[a. OF. listre, altered from litre:—L. lector (see lector).]
A reader or lector. In first quot., app. a preaching friar.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 138 On limitoures and listres [v.rr. listers, legistreris] lesynges I ymped. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 298 Somme freris procuren to be bisshopis, somme to be lystris. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 257 He hadde a lyster at mete. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas i. iv. (1554) 7 Prudent listers, which list in bokes rede. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 307/1 Lyysterre (H. lystyr, S. lystore, P. listyr), lector (S. delector). 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 235 He..went to Rome and there was he mad lyster of the Paleis, and comensale with the Pope. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. xii. 264 Porters, Scribes, Listers, and many other persones without office. |
▪ II. lister2
(ˈlɪstə(r))
[f. list v.4 + -er1.]
1. An enlister.
| 1678 Connect. Col. Rec. (1859) III. 11 Whither the former immunities were stated upon the Troop as a Troop or upon those whoe were the first listers. a 1701 Sedley Grumbler iii. Wks. 1778 II. 234 Cat. Sir, they will list me too, the serjeant would have taken me, if I had not been too quick for him... Gri. Why these are terrible listers! |
2. One who makes out a list, spec. (U.S.) of taxable property; an assessor.
| 1716 Coll. Connect. Hist. Soc. (1897) VI. 321 Voted that the Listers and Ratemakers distribute the New Law book in this Town. 1858 W. T. Martin Hist. Franklin County in A. E. Lee Hist. Columbus (Ohio) (1892) I. 156 John Blair lister of taxable property in Franklin Township. |
▪ III. lister3 U.S.
(ˈlɪstə(r))
[f. list v.3 4 + -er1.]
A double-mouldboard plough, used in corn and beet culture, which throws up ridges and at the same time plants and covers seed in the furrows. Also attrib.
| 1887 Sci. Amer. LVI. 6/3 When grain is planted by the so-called ‘combined lister and drill’, the listing forms a ditch or furrow several inches deep, in which the seed is deposited. 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 157/2 (heading) Subsoil lister with wood beam complete with runners. 1946 Harper's Mag. Oct. 307/2 In my day a lister cost $20—a great deal of money, indeed. 1949 Lubbock (Texas) Morn. Avalanche 23 Feb. ii. 6/4 Lister shares for any make tractor $3.50 each. |
▪ IV. lister
variant of leister.