ˈgameˌkeeper
[f. game n. + keeper n.]
A servant employed in taking care of game, to prevent poaching, etc.
| 1670–1 Act 22 & 23 Car. II, c. 25 §1 Bee it enacted..That all Lords of Mannours..may..authorize one or more..Game⁓keepers..who..may take and seize all such Gunns, Bowes [etc.]. 1679–88 Secr. Serv. Money Chas. & Jas. (Camden) 97 To be..paid over to the ten keepers and one game keeper in Windsor Forrest. 1772 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXII. 305 A greyheaded game-keeper always saw the partridge on the ground before they rose. 1860 All Year Round No. 71. 485 It is the gamekeeper's business to repress poachers. |
Hence ˈgamekeepery a., nonce-wd., of or befitting a gamekeeper. So also ˈgamekeeping vbl. n.
| 1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma i. 2 The vulgar groomy gamekeepery styles of dress. 1878 R. Jefferies Gamekeeper at Home ii. 44 The profession of gamekeeping is in no danger of falling into decay from lack of demand for the skill in woodcraft it implies. |