▪ I. dosser1, dorser Obs. exc. Hist.
(ˈdɒsə(r), ˈdɔːsə(r))
Forms: α. 4–5 doser, 4–6 docer(e, 5 dossour, dosour, dosur(e, 5–7 dossar, 4– dosser. β. 4– dorser; 5 dorsere, -cere, -sur, 6 dorsour, 7 dorcer, (9 dorsar, -eur).
[a. OF. dossier, docier, f. dos back: cf. med.L. dorsārium (f. dorsum), to which dorser is conformed.]
1. An ornamental cloth used to cover the back of a seat, esp. of a throne or chair of state, or as a hanging for the wall of a hall or room of state, or of the chancel of a church (= dossal b).
| α 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 478 Hit watz don abof þe dece, on doser to henge. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1340 Þe dossers were of ryche pal; y-brouded al wiþ golde. 1432 Test. Ebor. II. 22 A rede docer with a banquere, and all y⊇ whisshyns. 1495 Nottingham Rec. III. 40 Unum doser ad pendendum supra lectum cum curtenis eidem pertinentibus. |
| β 1379 Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 242/2 Best dorser, four costers and one banker. 14.. Lat. & Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 579/23 Dorsorium, a dorsere. 1516 Inventories (1815) 28 (Jam.) A frountell of ane alter of clothe of gold, a dorsour of clothe of gold. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. ii. 555 Dorsars, with pearls in every hem. |
2. A basket carried on the back, or slung in pairs over the back of a beast of burden, a pannier.
| α c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 850 Men..maken of these panyers Or elles hottes or dossers. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. vi. 30 Schulde men seie..that tho fischis grewen out of the panyeris or dossers. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 657/2 The deuil hate..made him to fall in the diche with his docer, and breake all his egges. 1608 Merry Devil of Edmonton in Hazl. Dodsley X. 224 Turn the wenches off, And lay their dossers tumbling in the dust. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Seeds, Seven or eight Dossers full of this earth. 1772 T. Simes Mil. Guide, Dosser, a kind of basket..to be carried on the shoulders, used to carry the overplus earth from one part of a fortification to another. 1850 J. Leitch tr. Müller's Anc. Art §388 She seems to be in the act of suspending the first in a kind of dosser. |
| β 1526 Ord. Hen. VIII, in Househ. Ord. (1790) 143 And that the dorsers keepe their due gage. 1625 Fletcher & Shirley Nt. Walker 1, I may meet her Riding from Market..'twixt her Dorsers. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 108 Dorsers or Hampers carried by Horses or Asses. 1877 Wraxall Hugo's Misérables iv. xlii, A rag-picker with her dorser and her hook. |
† b. A syphilitic swelling or bubo. Obs.
| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health lxxxii. 34. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as † dosser-head, a foolish person; † dosser-headed a., foolish.
| 1612 Dekker If it be not good Wks. 1873 III. 312 That's the cause we haue so many dosser-heads. 1655 tr. De Parc's Francion I. 26, I find you are not dosser-headed. |
▪ II. † ˈdosser2 Obs. rare.
[f. doss v.1 + -er1.]
pl. The horns of an animal.
| 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. vii. (1593) 161 A ram..Was thither..drawne..the medicine..seard his dossers from his pate, And with his hornes abridgd his yeares. |
▪ III. ˈdosser3 slang.
[f. doss v.2 + -er1.]
One who frequents, or sleeps at, a common lodging-house. happy dosser: see quot. 1884.
| 1866 Temple Bar Mag. XVII. 33 The entrance..is usually thronged with ‘dossers’ (casual ward frequenters). 1884 G. R. Sims in Rep. Comm. Housing of Wrkg. Classes App. 185/2 People crowd in at night, and sleep on the stairs of the houses..they call them ‘'appy dossers’..‘'appy dosser’ means a person who sleeps where he can. 1891 Booth Darkest Eng. 98 There is no compulsion upon any one of our dossers to take part in this meeting. |