[f. as prec. + -ER1.] One who whispers.
1. One who speaks in a whisper.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 79 b. The Crane by proper name should be called whisperer, or flackerer.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 148, ¶ 4. Next to these Bawlers, is a troublesome Creature who comes with the Air of … your Intimate, and that is your Whisperer.
1740. Richardson, Pamela (1785), II. 375. As we walk’d up the Church … we bad abundance of Gazers and Whisperers.
1832. Brewster, Nat. Magic, ix. 225. Where the whisperer is in the focus of one reflecting surface, and the hearer in the focus of another.
1876. J. Saunders, Lion in Path, v. ‘Hush,’ exclaims one of the whisperers to his neighbour.
b. An appellation for certain celebrated horse-breakers, said to have obtained obedience by whispering to the horses.
1810. H. Townsend, Stat. Surv. Co. Cork, 439. He was an awkward, ignorant rustic…, his name James Sullivan, but better known by the appellation of the whisperer,… from a vulgar notion of his being able to communicate to the animal what he wished, by means of a whisper.
1842. Borrow, Bible in Spain, xv. One who is an expert whisperer and horse-sorcerer.
2. One who communicates something quietly or secretly; esp. a secret slanderer or tale-bearer.
1547–50. Bauldwin, Mor. Philos., II. L iij. Caste whysperers and tale bearers, out of thy company.
1611. Bible, Prov. xvi. 28. A whisperer separateth chiefe friends.
1675. Temple, Lett. to King, Wks. 1731, II. 328. The Whisperers of this Story.
1707. Nash, in Goldsm., Life (1762), 33. Whisperers of lies and scandal.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 180, ¶ 10. The most officious of the whisperers of greatness.
1819. Keats, Otho, IV. i. Whisperers … Hungry for evidence to ruin me.
1876. Besant & Rice, Golden Butterfly, xviii. To be a Great Man’s whisperer is a position coveted by many.
