[f. prec. + -ER1.] a. One who searches for rabbits, etc. with a ferret. b. One who searches minutely; a rummager. Also with out.
a. 1601. F. Tate, Househ. Ord. Edw. II., § 58 (1876), 45. A ferretter, who shal have ij ferretes and a boy to help him to take conies when he shalbe so charged.
a. 1652. Brome, City Wit, I. Wks. 1873, I. 288. I have heard my Mother say his Father was a Ferretter.
1878. Jefferies, Gamekeeper at H., 33. Assistants, who act as beaters, ferreters, etc.
1887. W. Rye, Norfolk Broads, 13. The Poet found it [rabbit] in the ferreter’s bag.
b. 1611. Cotgr., Fureteur, a ferreter, searcher.
1857. Planché, trans. C’tess D’Aulnoy’s Fairy Tales, 261. As monkeys are always great ferreters by profession, they found a certain corner in which had been arranged a quantity of jars of preserves.
1863. Scotsman, 7 May. Croker … that indefatigable ferreter out of mistakes.
