▪ I. † router, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 4 roto(u)r, 5 Sc. rw-, rutowr, 6 rutour; 5 rowter, 6 rout(t)er.
[a. AF. routour, OF. routeur, f. route, in the sense either of ‘band, troop’ (rout n.1) or ‘road’ (route n.): cf. rutter1.]
1. A lawless person; a robber, ruffian.
| [1379 Rolls of Parlt. III. 62/2 En grant confort & abaundissement des tielx malfeisours & routours.] |
| a 1400 [see roter1]. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. xiii. 4648 Qwhar Bellyal barnys ar bulȝeande And rutowris raggit þar rulȝeande. 1481 Caxton Godfrey xx. 51 To venge vpon thyse false rowters, and theuys the oultrage that they had don. Ibid. xxxi. 67 They toke alle the maydens of the town lyke rowters & theues. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 32 Than sal thay corruppit rutouris his minions, be salut as kingis. |
2. A swaggering soldier or bully.
| 1557 Welth & Helth 388 (1907), Who cummeth there? Hance bere pot, Ascon router. 1576 J. Woolton Chr. Man. I v b, They set them out wyth sumpteous and gorgeous apparell of dyuers colors, some tyme lyke Routters, some tyme lyke Rouffyns. |
▪ II. ˈrouter, n.2
[f. rout v.1]
(See quot.)
| 1611 Cotgr. Ronfleur, a snorer, a snorter, a rowter. |
▪ III. router, n.3
(ˈraʊtə(r))
[f. rout n.1 5 or v.7]
One who takes part in a rout; a riotous person.
| 1670 Tryal of Rudyard, Moor, etc. in Phœnix (1721) I. 369 They never had been guilty of being Rioters and Routers. 1788 W. Marshall Prov. Yorksh., Rooter,..a person rushing into company abruptly, or rudely. |
▪ IV. ˈrouter, n.4 nonce-wd.
[f. rout n.1 9.]
One who gives a rout or reception.
| 1809 Spirit Public Jrnls. XIII. 179 Very considerable losses exalt the character of a rout prodigiously; and if a young heir is done over, it is a stamp of honour to the router. |
▪ V. router, n.5
(ˈraʊtə(r))
[f. rout v.8 2 b.]
1. a. A cutter that removes wood from a groove or recess, as in a router plane.
| 1818 Trans. R. Soc. Arts XXXV. 123 With my plane, as fast as the cutters pierce the wood, the router follows after, and clears the wood out of the groove. 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 488 The central plate of the plough is retained as a guide for the central positions of the router and cutter. |
b. A router plane.
| 1846 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manipulation II. 979 Mr. Wm. Lund has constructed the router..with a screw adjustment to the cutter. 1875 T. Seaton Fret-Cutting 111 To assist in smoothing the ground and getting it level in all parts, carvers frequently make use of a ‘router’, a species of plane. 1923 R. Greenhalgh Pract. Joinery & Carpentry xix. 245 A number of grooves are first run round the wreath [of a handrail] in suitable places, a useful tool for this purpose being the router. 1954 W. E. Kelsey Carpentry, Joinery & Woodcutting Machinery i. 14 Router or old woman's tooth... This is a tool for cleaning out and levelling the bottoms of trenches. 1974 G. Blackburn Illustr. Encycl. Woodworking Handtools 169 The Pattern Maker's Router is similar to the Router Plane, but with a machined, larger sole. |
c. (See quot. a 1877.)
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 288/2 The center-bit consists of three parts: a center point or pin..; a thin cutting point or nicker that..circumscribes the hole; and a broad chisel-edge or router, placed obliquely, and tearing up the wood within the circle marked out by the point. 1947 H. E. King School Cert. Woodwork vi. 63 Boring Bits... The router and nicker are sharpened on the inside only. 1955 M. M. Waters Woodwork 107 The nicker extends lower than the router and so engages the wood slightly ahead of it. |
d. A woodworking machine similar to a spindle moulder but using a much higher speed of rotation and able to produce finished work; also, a portable hand-held version of this.
| 1946 W. B. McKay Joinery i. 24 Another form of vertical boring machine is known as a router or recessing machine or overhead spindle moulder. 1954 W. E. Kelsey Carpentry, Joinery & Woodcutting Machinery xvii. 517 The router has taken over a great deal of the lighter work up to 1 in. or 11/4 in. thick which was formerly done on the spindle-moulder. Ibid. 546 Portable electric router... This machine works on the same principle as the overhead-router. 1958 Wall St. Jrnl. 30 Sept. 7/4 An official..enthuses over a new power wood-working tool called a ‘router’. 1976 Arizona Republic (Phoenix) 9 May k2/6 Harman uses a router (similar to an electric drill..) to make a hole in the center of the slice for the hand shaft to go through. 1976 S. Wales Echo 23 Nov. 11/5 (Advt.), One overhead router {pstlg}200. Various other items for woodworking shop. |
2. One who routs out or draws forth.
| a 1890 in Cent. Dict., He is a fair scholar, well up in Herodotus, and a grand router-out of antiquities. |
3. attrib., as router bit, cutter = sense 1 c above; router plane, a plane with a cutter projecting below the sole so that the bottom of a groove or recess can be planed.
| 1953 E. G. Hamilton Power Tools for Home Craftsman vii. 230 Small router bits are usually of the single-flute type. 1976 C. H. Groneman Gen. Woodworking (ed. 5) xlvi. 220 Most routers use 1/4- or 3/8-in.-shank (6·35- or 9·52-mm-shank) router bits. |
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. III. 1995/2 Routing-machine, a shaping-machine which works by means of a router-cutter..revolving above a bed with universal horizontal adjustment. |
| 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 488 The router⁓gage..has a tooth like a narrow chisel. Ibid. 487 A router plane..has a broad surface carrying in its center one of the cutters belonging to the plough. 1934 Planecraft (C. & J. Hampton Ltd.) xiv. 105 The Record Router Plane..is made both with an open and with a closed mouth. 1966 A. T. Collins Newnes Compl. Pract. Woodworking 30 Router planes are used for levelling and smoothing the surface on the bottom of a groove, slot or cavity which is inaccessible to an ordinary grooving plane. 1974 [see sense 1 b above]. |
Hence ˈrouter v., to cut away, hollow out, with a router.
| 1890 in Cent. Dict. |