Obs. Forms: 1 wongere, wangere, 4 wonger(e, wanger(e. [OE. wangęre = OHG. wangâri (MHG. wanger), Goth. waggareis:—OTeut. type *waŋgārjo-z, f. *waŋgō- cheek, WANG1.] A pillow.
Speght (1602), explains the word (in Chaucer) as ‘a male, or bouget,’ and this explanation appears in Kersey 1708, and later Dicts. and glossaries.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xiv. [xi.] (1890), 296. To þon þætte from dæle þæs heafdes eac swylce meahte wongere betweoh ʓeseted beon.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 124. Ceruical, wangere.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 201. His brighte helm was his wonger [v.rr. wanger, wongere, wangere].
