[f. FURNISH v. + -ER1.] One who furnishes, in senses of the vb.; spec. one who supplies furniture. b. Australian mining (see quot. 1869).
1611. Cotgr. Fournisseur, a furnisher.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., VI. 269. Their victuals are brought dayly … each furnisher ringing the Bell, giveth warning to his friends, to come receive their necessars.
1694. Acc. Sev. Late Voy., II. (1711), 158. The Line-furnisher, or the Man that doth look after the Ropes.
1759. Fountainhall, Decisions, I. 303. Some gave out the Duchess of Lauderdale as a … furnisher of him with money.
1869. R. B. Smyth, Gold Fields of Victoria, 612. Furnisher—A capitalist who by erecting machinery for, or otherwise assisting a party of miners working a claim, becomes entitled to a share of the profits.
1881. Daily News, 8 Nov., 5/2. The furnishers of pantomime properties.
1894. Westm. Gaz., 16 Aug., 3/1. Diversity is the aim of the modern furnisher.
