▪ I. † corver1 Obs.
[a. MDu. corver a fisherman, and fishing ship (of some kind): cf. the phrase te corve varen to go a fishing in a korfscip; korfharinck a herring (of some kind), korfmarct the market where the fish were sold. Of uncertain origin: possibly from corf, korf basket: the only sense of korver in Kilian is ‘cistifer, cistam seu corbem ferens, corbulo’ = basket-man, basket-carrier. But this does not well explain the phrase te corve varen.]
A kind of Dutch herring-fisher and fishing-boat.
| 1491 Earl of Oxford in Paston Lett. No. 926 III. 372 The roborye and dispoyling of certayn Corvers of Holond and Selond done by the shipp callyd the Foole, wherof Robert Spenser was maister, aswell in herryng, vitayle, and takelyng. |
▪ II. corver2
[f. corf + -er1.]
One who makes corves: see corf.
| 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 34 Whereas I speak of Corves, or Baskets to put the Coals in, we must have a Man (which is called the Corver) to make them. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Corver, a man who makes and repairs corves or coal baskets. 1881 in Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 84. 1921 in Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §652. |