Obs. Forms: 1 eofer, eofor, efer, efor, 3 eaver, 4 ever. [OE. eofor = OHG. (and mod.Ger.) eber, ON. iǫfurr:—OTeut. *eƀuro-z, allied to OSlav. veprĭ, L. aper.]
1. A wild boar.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. lxxix. [lxxx.] 13. Hine utan of wuda eoferas wrotað and wilde deor westað and frettað.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 182. Sele þu him … flæsc eofores.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 13. Ha in hare wurðunge as eaueres forroteden.
2. Comb. Ever-fern: a. the Polypody, Polypodium vulgare; b. Osmunda regalis.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 188. Ðeos wyrt man … efor fearn nemneð.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 135. Filix arboratica, eferfearn.
c. 1050. Ags. Voc., ibid. 207. Filix minuta, eoforfearn.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., C. 438. He busked hym a bour … Of hay & of euer-ferne & erbez a fewe.
a. 1387. Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.), 32. Osmunda, herba est, everferne.
a. 1400. Sloane MS. 5. 9 b. Osmundo … eueruern.
14[?]. Recipes, in Rel. Ant., I. 52. For the stane … tak everferne that grewes on the ake.
