Forms: 4 wefere, 4–5 wevere, 5 wevyr, wewar(e, weiver, weyver, 5–6 weffer(e, 5–7 wever, 6 wevar, wayver, 6–7 Sc. wiver, 6, 9 Sc. weyver, 7 Sc. weifer, 8 weever, 9 Sc. wyver, 6– weaver. [f. WEAVE v.1 + -ER1.]
1. One who weaves textile fabrics; a workman or workwoman whose occupation is weaving.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. Prol. 99. Wollene websteris and weueris of lynen.
1382. Wyclif, Job vii. 6. My daȝes swiftliere passiden than of the weuere the web is kut of.
c. 1450. Capgrave, St. Gilbert, l. 31. Þe apostell, whech was a weuer of cloth.
1531. Elyot, Gov., I. i. A wayuer or fuller shulde be an unmete capitaine of an armie.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 146. I would I were a Weauer, I could sing all manner of songs.
1638. Burgh Rec. Glasgow (1876), 388. The wiveris friemen within this burgh feirit that [etc.].
1675. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 80. Last week there was ane uproar in London occationed by the weavers.
1765. H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 25 May. Many thousand Weavers rose, on a bill for their relief being thrown out of the House of Lords.
1768. True Copy Poll City Oxf., 16. Mitchel, James, Wytham, Weaver.
c. 1778. Life Capt. Socivizca, 28. Every Wallachian Man is his own Cartwright, and every Woman a Weaver for her own Family.
1851–5. Tomlinson’s Cycl. Usef. Arts (1867), II. 857/2. The weaver … pressing with one foot on one of the treadles,… lowers one of the healds, [etc.].
1871. C. Gibbon, Lack of Gold, v. The weavers obtained employment principally from the manufacturers of Kingshaven.
1892. Labour Commission, Gloss., Weavers, women employed in the manufacture of cloth.
b. One who plaits. Also Sc., one who knits.
1783. European Mag., Sept., 176. Betty got the hair wove into a tail at the … wig-makers … assuring the nimble-fingered weaver, it was for herself.
1825. Jamieson, Weaver, wyver,… a knitter of stockings, Aberd.
2. fig. One who weaves, in metaphorical senses of the vb.; one who contrives, constructs, etc. (something specified).
In the first quot. the word may be misread for wenere WEENER.
c. 1430. Hymns Virg. (1867), 77. Þanne comeþ forþ good hope; To saue man he wolde fonde: ‘Þou wronge weuere ouerhope! I make him free, þou woldist make him bonde.’
1587. M. Grove, Pelops & Hipp. (1878), 73. Yet say not naythelesse that I … am the weauer of your woe.
1781. Cowper, Conversat., 207. Sedentary weavers of long tales Give me the fidgets.
1885. Clodd, Myths & Dr., I. iii. 20. The savage is not a conscious weaver of allegories.
1905. J. B. Firth, Highways Derbysh., xvi. 245. A weaver of rhymes.
3. Sc. A spider.
1825. Jamieson, Wyver, a spider, Aberd. Ibid. (1882), Wyvers’-wobs, cobwebs.
4. One of numerous Asiatic or African tropical birds of the family Ploceidae, so called from the elaborately interwoven nests that many of them build. Also more fully weaver-bird (see 6).
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 240. Ploceus Philippinus, Tem…. Philippine Weaver…. P. Abyssinicus.… Abyssinian Weaver.
1844. Lady G. Fullerton, Ellen Middleton (1854), II. xiv. 149. The weavers with their endless tails.
1894–5. Lydekker’s Roy. Nat. Hist., III. 363. The red-billed black weaver (Textor niger) is found in the Transvaal.
1909. African Monthly, VI. 270. A colony of Spotted-backed Weavers.
5. A water-beetle of the family Gyrinidae. = WHIRLIGIG sb. 4.
1864. Webster.
6. attrib. and Comb., as weaver-body, -boy, † -craft, -girl, -leg, † -trindle; also in the names of certain birds, as weaver-bird (see sense 4), -bunting, -finch, -oriole.
1826. J. F. Stephens, Shaw’s Gen. Zool., XIV. 34. Ploceus, Cuvier. *Weaver-bird.
1879. Lubbock, Sci. Lect., ii. 38. The pendulous nests of the weaver-bird are a protection from snakes and other enemies.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxvi. Ye are willing to be guided by the Glasgow *weaver-body’s advice.
1817. Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXII. 98. The appellation of *‘Weaver Boys’ was … bestowed on the speakers at the numerous meeting, held at Manchester, in November last.
1783. Latham, Gen. Syn. Birds, III. 193. *Weaver Bunting.
1515. Sel. Cases Star Chamber (Selden Soc.), II. 87. Robert Rossell being freman of the *wever Crafte sworne saith [etc.].
1876. A. R. Wallace, Distrib. Anim., II. 286. The Ploceidæ, or *Weaver-finches, are especially characteristic of the Ethiopian region.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, i. The *weaver-girls in their flowers and ribbons.
1875. G. Macdonald, Malcolm, II. 44. He wad … rin as fest as his wee *weyver (spider) legs cud wag.
1782. Latham, Gen. Syn. Birds, I. 435. *Weever Oriole.
1483. Cath. Angl., 412/2. A *Weffer tryndylle, jnsubulus.
b. Possessive combinations, as weaver’s beam, † brush, -craft, -glue, † hand-roll, † -jack, -loom, † -weight, -winder; † weaver’s beef of Colchester, a name given to sprats; weaver’s bottom, weavers’ cramp (see quots.); weaver’s knot, a sheet-bend or single bend, used for joining threads in weaving; † weaver’s larum, an alarum made of a candle, a weight, and string; weaver’s lights (see quot.: cf. weaver’s windows); weaver’s shuttle, (a) the shuttle used by weavers: (b) a shell Radius (Ovulum) volva; weaver’s windows (see quot.: cf. weaver’s lights).
1539. Bible (Great), 1 Sam. xvii. 7. Y3 shafte of his spere was like a *weuers beame.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., V. i. 24. For in the shape of Man (Master Broome) I feare not Goliah with a Weauers beame, because I know also, life is a Shuttle.
a. 1679. J. Ward, Diary (1839), 112. Sprats are proverbially called *Weaver’s beef of Colchester.
1865. W. White, East. Eng., I. 145. She had never heard sprats described as weaver’s beef, as they are (or were) at Colchester.
1899. Syd. Soc. Lex., *Weaver’s bottom, term for chronic inflammation of the bursa over the ischial tuberosity from pressure.
1583. Rates Custome ho., A vij. Brusshes called *weuers brusshes of heare, the dosen, ij.s. vj.d.
1462. in C. A. Markham, Northampton Bor. Rec. (1898), I. 298. Euery persone that shall occupie and set vp the seide *Weyverescrafte within the ffraunchese of this town.
1881. W. Rivington, in Brain, IV. 257. The patient, who had been a weaver, suffered from what we may call *‘weavers’ cramp,’ by which is meant a condition analogous to ‘writers’ cramp.’
1872. C. W. Heaton, Experim. Chem., iii. 308. When cotton thread or cotton fabrics are bleached, it is merely in order to remove the oily, sweaty, and mealy substances (*weaver’s glue, &c.) which have become attached to them during spinning and weaving.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. xxi. (Roxb.), 251/1. A *weavers hand Roll. Ibid. A *Weavers Jack.
1532. [G. Walker], Dice Play, B iij b. To turne his pricke vpward, and cast a *weauers knot on both his thumbs behind him.
1678. Wanley, Wonders Little World, I. x. 16. With the flexure of her Tongue only she could readily tye that fast Knot, which we call the Weaver’s Knot.
1745. Phil. Trans., XLIII. 555. This little Apparatus goes commonly by the Name of the *Weaver’s Larum, from its being chiefly or originally made use of by Persons employed in that Trade.
1866. Morn. Star, 14 Aug., 4/5. Broad windows extending the breadth of the house, and known as *‘weavers’ lights.’
1535. Coverdale, 1 Sam. xvii. 7. The shaft of his speare was like a *weuers lome.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Radius,… a *wayuers shyttell, wherwith he throweth the yern in to the webbe.
1560. Bible (Geneva), Job vii. 6. My dayes are swifter then a weauers shittle.
1815. S. Brookes, Introd. Conchol., 157. Weaver’s Shuttle, Bulla Volva.
1576. Gascoigne, Steele Gl. (Arb.), 80. When *weauers weight is found in huswiues web.
1867. H. Latham, Black & White, 19. The trades taught are those of the shoemaker, tailor, chair-maker, weaver, *weaver’s winder, carpenter, and blacksmith.
1896. J. K. Snowden, Web of Weaver, xii. 152. The house had what we used to call *weavers’ windows—three or four narrow lights together.
