1. One who spends the winter in a specified place; a winter visitor or resident; spec. a servant of the Hudson’s Bay Company who was employed in the far interior of N. America. Also applied to birds (spec. the jerfalcon: see quot. 1831).
1801. A. Mackenzie, Voy. Montreal Fur Trade, p. xxviii. Those are called North Men or Winterers.
1831. Swainson & Richardson, Fauna Bor.-Amer., II. 27. The Jerfalcon is a constant resident in the Hudson’s Bay territories, where it is known by the name of the ‘Speckled Partridge Hawk,’ or by that of the ‘Winterer.’
1876. L. A. Tollemache, in Fortn. Rev., March, 363. Davos, with its five hundred winterers, speaks volumes.
1882. Standard, 14 April, 6/1. Doubtless, the winterers in Smith’s Sound … will have a curious tale to tell.
1923. Times Lit. Suppl., 15 March, 176/3. The whinchat hardly deserves to be ranked as a regular winterer, even in Cornwall.
b. spec. An animal, as a horse, ox or sheep, ‘kept to feed in a particular place during winter’ (Jam.). Sc.
1795. G. Robertson, Agric. Surv. Mid-Lothian, 41. In farms where no winterers are kept, the dunghill is placed behind the stables, out of view.
1801. Farmer’s Mag., Aug., 251. For winterers, or straw-yard cattle, intended for next summer’s grass, the advantage is also great.
1827. Scott, Two Drovers, ii. If you let me have six stots for winterers.
2. One who tends animals during winter.
1832. Boston Her., 8 May, 3/5. Graziers and winterers of stock.
