▪ I. weaver1
(ˈwiːvə(r))
Forms: 4 wefere, 4–5 wevere, 5 wevyr, wewar(e, weiver, weyver, 5–6 weffer(e, 5–7 wever, 6 wevar, wayver, 6–7 Sc. wiver, 6, 9 Sc. weyver, 7 Sc. weifer, 8 weever, 9 Sc. wyver, 6– weaver.
[f. weave v.1 + -er1.]
1. a. One who weaves textile fabrics; a workman or workwoman whose occupation is weaving.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. Prol. 99 Wollene websteris and weueris of lynen. 1382 Wyclif Job vii. 6 My daȝes swiftliere passiden than of the weuere the web is kut of. c 1450 J. Capgrave St. Gilbert l. 31 Þe apostell, whech was a weuer of cloth. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. i, A wayuer or fuller shulde be an unmete capitaine of an armie. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 146, I would I were a Weauer, I could sing all manner of songs. 1638 Burgh Rec. Glasgow (1876) 388 The wiveris friemen within this burgh feirit that [etc.]. 1675 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 80 Last week there was ane uproar in London occationed by the weavers. 1765 H. Walpole Let. to Mann 25 May, Many thousand Weavers rose, on a bill for their relief being thrown out of the House of Lords. 1768 True Copy Poll City Oxf. 16 Mitchel, James, Wytham, Weaver. c 1778 Life Capt. Socivizca 28 Every Wallachian Man is his own Cartwright, and every Woman a Weaver for her own Family. 1851–5 Tomlinson's Cycl. Usef. Arts (1867) II. 857/2 The weaver..pressing with one foot on one of the treadles,..lowers one of the healds, [etc.]. 1871 C. Gibbon Lack of Gold v, The weavers obtained employment principally from the manufacturers of Kingshaven. 1892 Labour Commission Gloss., Weavers, women employed in the manufacture of cloth. |
b. One who plaits. Also
Sc., one who knits.
| 1783 European Mag. Sept. 176 Betty got the hair wove into a tail at the..wig-makers..assuring the nimble-fingered weaver, it was for herself. 1825 Jamieson, Weaver, wyver,..a knitter of stockings, Aberd. |
2. fig. One who weaves, in metaphorical senses of the
vb.; one who contrives, constructs, etc. (something specified).
In the first
quot. the word may be misread for
wenere weener.
| c 1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 77 Þanne comeþ forþ good hope; To saue man he wolde fonde: ‘Þou wronge weuere ouerhope! I make him free, þou woldist make him bonde.’ 1587 M. Grove Pelops & Hipp. (1878) 73 Yet say not naythelesse that I..am the weauer of your woe. 1781 Cowper Conversat. 207 Sedentary weavers of long tales Give me the fidgets. 1885 Clodd Myths i. iii. 20 The savage is not a conscious weaver of allegories. 1905 J. B. Firth Highways Derbysh. xvi. 245 A weaver of rhymes. |
3. Sc. A spider.
| 1825 Jamieson, Wyver, a spider, Aberd. 1882 Ibid., Wyvers'-wobs, cobwebs. |
4. One of numerous Asiatic or African tropical birds of the family
Ploceidae, so called from the elaborately interwoven nests that many of them build. Also more fully
weaver-bird (see 7).
| 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 240 Ploceus Philippinus, Tem... Philippine Weaver... P. Abyssinicus... Abyssinian Weaver. 1844 Lady G. C. Fullerton Ellen Middleton (1854) II. xiv. 149 The weavers with their endless tails. 1894–5 Lydekker's Roy. Nat. Hist. III. 363 The red-billed black weaver (Textor niger) is found in the Transvaal. 1909 African Monthly VI. 270 A colony of Spotted-backed Weavers. |
5. A water-beetle of the family
Gyrinidae.
= whirligig n. 4.
6. Basket-making. Any cane which is woven between the stakes of a basket.
| 1897 A. Firth Cane Basket Work ii. 17 Weavers, the canes which are placed alternately behind and before the spokes. 1960 E. Legg Country Baskets 27 If you will just bear in mind the names of the parts—sticks or stakes, and weavers—..you will never forget the different grades required... The stakes must be stouter or stronger than the weavers. |
7. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
weaver-body,
weaver-boy,
† weaver-craft,
weaver-girl,
weaver-leg,
† weaver-trindle; also in the names of certain birds, as
weaver-bird (see sense 4),
weaver-bunting,
weaver-finch,
weaver-oriole.
weaver ant, a tropical ant,
esp. one of the genus
Oecophylla, which builds nests of leaves fastened together by the silk of its own larvæ.
| 1913 Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst. 1912 456 The highly interesting *weaver ants..use their larvæ as weaver's shuttles. 1977 Sci. Amer. Dec. 146/1 Weaver ants are extremely abundant, aggressive and territorial. |
| 1826 J. F. Stephens Shaw's Gen. Zool. XIV. 34 Ploceus, Cuvier. *Weaver-bird. 1879 Lubbock Sci. Lect. ii. 38 The pendulous nests of the weaver-bird are a protection from snakes and other enemies. |
| 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxvi, Ye are willing to be guided by the Glasgow *weaver-body's advice. |
| 1817 Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXII. 98 The appellation of ‘*Weaver Boys’ was..bestowed on the speakers at the numerous meeting, held at Manchester in November last. |
| 1783 Latham Gen. Syn. Birds III. 193 *Weaver Bunting. |
| 1515 Sel. Cases Star Chamber (Selden Soc.) II. 87 Robert Rossell being freman of the *wever Crafte sworne saith [etc.]. |
| 1876 A. R. Wallace Distrib. Anim. II. 286 The Ploceidæ, or *Weaver-finches, are especially characteristic of the Ethiopian region. |
| 1849 C. Brontë Shirley i, The *weaver-girls in their flowers and ribbons. |
| 1875 G. Macdonald Malcolm II. 44 He wad..rin as fest as his wee *weyver (spider) legs cud wag. |
| 1782 Latham Gen. Syn. Birds I. 435 *Weever Oriole. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 412/2 A *Weffer tryndylle, jnsubulus. |
b. Possessive combinations, as
weaver's beam,
† weaver's brush,
weaver's-craft,
weaver's-glue,
† weaver's hand-roll,
† weaver's-jack,
weaver's-loom,
† weaver's-weight,
weaver's-winder;
† weaver's beef of Colchester, a name given to sprats;
weaver's bottom,
weavers' cramp (see
quots.);
weaver's knot, a sheet-bend or single bend, used for joining threads in weaving;
† weaver's larum, an alarum made of a candle, a weight, and string;
weaver's lights (see
quot.:
cf. weaver's windows);
weaver's shuttle, (
a) the shuttle used by weavers: (
b) a shell
Radius (
Ovulum)
volva;
weaver's windows (see
quot.:
cf. weaver's lights).
| 1539 Bible (Great) 1 Sam. xvii. 7 Y⊇ shafte of his spere was like a *weuers beame. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. i. 24. |
| a 1679 J. Ward Diary (1839) 112 Sprats are proverbially called *Weaver's beef of Colchester. 1865 W. White East. Eng. I. 145 She had never heard sprats described as weaver's beef, as they are (or were) at Colchester. |
| 1899 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Weaver's bottom, term for chronic inflammation of the bursa over the ischial tuberosity from pressure. |
| 1583 Rates Custome ho. A vij, Brusshes called *weuers brusshes of heare, the dosen, ij.s. vj.d. |
| 1462 in C. A. Markham Northampton Bor. Rec. (1898) I. 298 Euery persone that shall occupie and set vp the seide *Weyverescrafte within the ffraunchese of this town. |
| 1881 W. Rivington in Brain IV. 257 The patient, who had been a weaver, suffered from what we may call ‘*weavers' cramp’, by which is meant a condition analogous to ‘writers' cramp’. |
| 1872 C. W. Heaton Experim. Chem. iii. 308 When cotton thread or cotton fabrics are bleached, it is merely in order to remove the oily, sweaty, and mealy substances (*weaver's glue, &c.) which have become attached to them during spinning and weaving. |
| 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xxi. (Roxb.) 251/1 A *weavers hand Roll. |
| 1532 [G. Walker] Dice Play B iij b, To turne his pricke vpward, and cast a *weauers knot on both his thumbs behind him. 1678 Wanley Wonders Little World i. x. 16 With the flexure of her Tongue only she could readily tye that fast Knot, which we call the Weaver's Knot. |
| 1745 Phil. Trans. XLIII. 555 This little Apparatus goes commonly by the Name of the *Weaver's Larum, from its being chiefly or originally made use of by Persons employed in that Trade. |
| 1866 Morn. Star 14 Aug. 4/5 Broad windows extending the breadth of the house, and known as ‘*weavers' lights’. |
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. xvii. 7 The shaft of his speare was like a *weuers lome. |
| 1538 Elyot Dict., Radius,..a *wayuers shyttell, wherwith he throweth the yern in to the webbe. 1560 Bible (Geneva) Job vii. 6 My dayes are swifter then a weauers shittle. 1815 S. Brookes Introd. Conchol. 157 Weaver's Shuttle, Bulla Volva. |
| 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 80 When *weauers weight is found in huswiues web. |
| 1867 H. Latham Black & White 19 The trades taught are those of the..weaver, *weaver's winder, carpenter, and blacksmith. |
| 1896 K. Snowden Web of Weaver xii. 152 The house had what we used to call *weavers' windows—three or four narrow lights together. |
▪ II. ˈweaver2 [f. weave v.2 + -er1.] a. A horse that ‘weaves’ or rolls the neck and body from side to side.
| 1847 T. Brown Modern Farriery 387 Animals of an impatient, irritable temper,..will sometimes keep moving their head, neck, and body to and fro, like the motion of a weaver's shuttle: these have been called weavers. 1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. xi, T' horse was a weaver, if iver one was. 1880 W. Day Racehorse in Training i. 6 If a horse is a weaver put him into a box, for in it he is more contented and often forgets his tricks. |
b. Boxing. A boxer who weaves from side to side as a tactical move.
Cf. weave v.
2 4.
| 1829 P. Egan Boxiana 2nd Ser. II. 165 They again became weavers, till they measured their lengths upon the ground, Warren again undermost. 1950 J. Dempsey Championship Fighting xi. 54 ‘Bobbers and weavers’—chaps who come in bobbing low and weaving from side to side. |
c. R.A.F. slang. A pilot (or aircraft) pursuing a devious course.
Cf. weave v.
2 1 c.
| 1942 in Forbes & Allen Ten Fighter Boys 47, I called up the C.O. and said I would like to take up position as a ‘weaver’. 1956 J. E. Johnson Wing Leader iv. 53 Some of our squadrons provided two weavers in an attempt to guard themselves from the bounce. The weavers flew above the squadron and continually weaved and criss⁓crossed. |
d. A driver of a motor vehicle who moves continuously from lane to lane,
esp. in order to pass other vehicles.
colloq.| 1960 Amer. Speech XXXV. 312 For a long time we have heard of the weaver, the driver who shifts from lane to lane in driving. 1973 Telegraph (Brisbane) 13 Sept. 30/1 Then we have the weaver, who careers from lane to lane, passing other cars right and left. |
▪ III. weaver obs. f. waver n.1;
var. weever.