[f. BOWL v. + -ER1.]
1. One who bowls; one who plays at bowls.
c. 1500. Cocke Lorelles B. (1843), 11. Bowlers, mas shoters, and quayters.
1609. B. Jonson, Sil. Wom., I. i. (1616), 531. Every bowler, or better o’ the greene.
1707. Farquhar, Beaux’ Strat., I. i. 4. A profess’d Pick-pocket, and a good Bowler.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., III. vii. 236. Modern bowlers have usually three or four [bowls].
2. Cricket. The player who bowls or ‘delivers’ the ball at the wicket.
1755. [see BOWL v. 4].
1770. J. Love, Cricket, 15. Hodswell, of Dartford … celebrated Bowler.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xiii. He … was the best batter and bowler, out and out, of the regimental club.
