[f. WALE v.1 + -ER1.]

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  1.  Coal-mining. (See quots.)

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1825.  E. Mackenzie, View Northumbld. (ed. 2), I. 91. Wailers are boys employed to pick out slate, pyrites, and other foul admixtures from the coal.

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1860.  Eng. & For Mining Gloss. (ed. 2), [Newcastle Terms], Waler, boys who pick the refuse from the good coals.

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  † 2.  ‘A handloom silk-weaving term: a man employed to determine the number of “picks” in a piece and to see that uniformity is maintained’ (Eng. Dial. Dict.). Obs.

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