Obs. Also 4 vinour, 5 -oure, vyn-, vignour; 6 vyner. [a. OF. vignour, vigneur, or AF. viner (Gower) vine-grower; with sense 2 cf. OF. vinier, vignier wine-merchant.]
1. A vine-grower or vine-dresser.
α. 1390. Gower, Conf., III. 148. The king and the vinour also Of wommen comen bothe tuo.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxciii. (Bodl. MS.). Vligo is þe kinde vinoure of þe erþe,… for þis tre rereþ vp and susteyneþ bowes, frute, & spraies of vines.
a. 1470. H. Parker, Dives & Pauper (W. de W., 1496), I. xxii. 58/1. Some ben shepeherdes,… some vynours, some of other craftes as the contre axeth.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, II. iii. (1883), 41. Yf the smythes, the carpentiers, ye vignours and other craftymen saye that it is most necessarye to studye for the comyn prouffit.
β. 1552. Huloet, Vyner, or orderer, or trymmer of vynes, vinetor.
1570. Levins, Manip., 77. A viner, vinitor.
1611. Florio, Vignaio, a vineroll, a viner, a vine dresser.
2. A member of the Vintners’ Company.
1674. Marvell, Ld. Mayor & Crt. Aldermen, xviii. And now, worshipful sirs, Go fold up your furs, And Viners turn again, turn again.
