Sc. or arch. [f. KEMP v. + -ER1; cf. MDu. kemper, MHG. kempfer, G. kämpfer, Da. kæmper.] a. Sc. One who kemps or strives for victory, esp. in reaping. b. arch. = KEMP sb.1
a. 1641. Ferguson, Prov., No. 70. A’ the corn in the country is not shorn by kempers.
1776. C. Keith, Farmer’s Ha’, in Chambers, Pop. Hum. Scot. Poems (1862), 28. The lasses … Are sittin at their spinnin-wheels, And weel ilk blythsome kemper dreels.
1822. Blackw. Mag., Jan., 401/1. Helping to give a hot brow to this bevy of notable kempers.
b. 1891. R. W. Dixon, Hist. Ch. Eng., IV. 469. The spirit of the northern kempers.
