fother
See also: foþer
English
Etymology
From Middle English fother, fothir, from Old Norse fóðr (cognate to Old English fōdor), from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą (compare Dutch voer (“pasture, fodder”), German Futter (“feed”), Swedish foder). Doublet of fodder and foeder. More at food.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɒðə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɑðɚ/
Noun
fother (countable and uncountable, plural fothers)
- (historical) A load, a wagonload, especially any various English units of weight or volume based upon standardized cartloads of certain commodities.
- 1774-75, Act 14 Geo. III in Brand, Newcastle (1789) I, page 652:
- Four fother of clod lime, and fifteen fothers of good manure, on each acre.
- 1813, “Misc.”, in Ann. Reg., 507/2:
- 20 fothers of additional thickness in clay were thrown in.
- 1840, Tyne songster, The Tyne songster, a choice selection of songs in the Newcastle dialect, page 211:
- Where the brass hez a' cum fra nebody can tell, / Some says yen thing and some says another - / But whe ever lent Grainger't aw knaw very well, / That they mun have at least had a fother.
- 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 168:
- Now measured by the old hundred, that is, 108 lbs. the charrus contains nearly 19½ hundreds, that is it corresponds to the fodder, or fother, of modern times.
- 1774-75, Act 14 Geo. III in Brand, Newcastle (1789) I, page 652:
- (dialect) Alternative form of fodder, food for animals.
Hyponyms
- see load
Verb
fother (third-person singular simple present fothers, present participle fothering, simple past and past participle fothered)
References
- Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
- Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “FOTHER”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volumes II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.
Middle English
Etymology
From Old Norse fóðr, from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą. Doublet of fodder.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfoːðər/
Noun
fother (plural fothres)
- wagonload (that which fits in a wagon)
- a wildly inconsistent measure of weight primarily used for lead.
- a great quantity, especially a load or of people.
References
- “fọ̄ther, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-18.
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