Forms: 5 barkere, barkar, bercar, 5– barker. [f. BARK v.2 + -ER1.]
† 1. A tanner. Obs.
1402. Test. Ebor. (1836), I. 289. Lego uxori Ricardi Skyrtynbek, barkar, j. togam.
c. 1470. King & Barker, 127, in Ritson’s Anc. P. P., 65. Ther owr kyng and the barker partyd feyr a twyn.
1479. Paston Lett., 839, III. 253. An endenture of the bercars.
1503–4. Act 19 Hen. VII., xix. That no Tanner nor Barker put no maner of hyde nor Lether to sale.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., 131. Of Barkers within Bvrgh.
2. One who strips off bark from trees.
1611. Cotgr., Escorceur, a barker of trees.
1829. [J. L. Knapp], Jrnl. Naturalist, 56. Our barkers go on rapidly with their work.
transf. 1645. Milton, Colast., Wks. (1847), 230/1. Infested … with bawling whippets and shin barkers.
