Also 3 smitar, 4 smitter, 4–7 smyter, 5 -ere. [f. SMITE v. + -ER1. So Fris. smiter, Da. smijter, G. schmeisser, etc.]
1. One who smites, strikes or buffets; a beater, striker.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 156. Heo wule … aȝein þe smitare beoden uorð hire cheoken.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6685. Þe smiter sal quite his lechyng, And þe scath of his liging.
1382. Wyclif, Isaiah l. 6. My bodi I ȝaf to the smyteres, and my chekes to the pulleris.
1495. Trevisa’s Barth. De P. R., XVIII. lxv. 280. Whan a lyon is wounded he … resyth on the smyter.
1535. Coverdale, Isaiah xxvii. 7. Smyteth he not his smyter, as euel as he is smytten himself? Ibid., Lam. iii. 30. He offreth his cheke to the smyter.
1608. A. Willet, Hexapla Exod., 477. The smiter was to bee apprehended.
1664. J. Tombes (title), Saints no Smiters: or, Smiting Civil Powers Not the Work of Saints.
1813. Byron, Corsair, III. viii. Therefore came I … To smite the smiter with the scimitar.
1870. Jebb, Sophocles’ Electra (ed. 2), p. vi. Pelops, smiter of horses.
fig. 1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. 118. Lanfranc shone forth as the irresistible smiter of heresy.
† b. [After L. percussor.] An executioner. Obs.
a. 1380. Virg. Antioch, 253, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 30. A smiter ȝif þer beo to day, Me to sle, nou icomen in [etc.].
c. 1430. Life St. Kath. (1884), 61. The batayl of my stryf fulfylled, I abyde the swerd of the smyter.
c. 1440. Capgrave, Life St. Kath., V. 1885. The mayde leyde foorth hir nekke fayr & white, And thus she seyde on-to the smytere thoo.
c. One who applies a thing by striking. rare–1.
1670. Pettus, Fodinæ Reg., 41. Then the Smiter of Irons, after they be graved, smites them upon the Monie.
d. dial. (See quot.)
1823. E. Moor, Suffolk Words, Smiter. One who does any thing with energy; or in a striking manner.
2. † a. A weapon with which one smites; a sword, a scimitar. Obs.
Partly, if not entirely, suggested by simiter ‘scimitar.’
1591. Lyly, Endym., I. iii. It is my Simiter; which I by construction often studying to bee compendious, call my Smyter.
1593. Nashe, Four Lett. Conf., Wks. (Grosart), II. 202. Put vp thy smiter, O gentle Peter.
1633. B. Jonson, Tale Tub, IV. iii. Put thy smiter up, and hear; I dare not tell the truth to a drawn sword.
1648. Leg. Capt. Jones, 2. His fatall Smiter thrice aloft be shakes.
b. Cant. An arm. rare–0.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. [Hence in Bailey, Grose, etc.]
3. A variety of fancy pigeon (see quot. 1778).
1668. Charleton, Onomast., 76. Gyratices,… Clappers, & Smiters.
1676. Willughby, Ornith., II. xv. 132. Percussores, Anglicè Smiters.
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., 182. Smiters … do not only shake their Wings as they fly: But also … clap them so strongly, that [etc.]…. Our Country-men distinguish between Tumblers and Smiters.
1778. G. White, Selborne, lxxxiv. Pigeons, and particularly the sort called smiters, have a way of clashing their wings, the one against the other, over their backs, with a loud snap.
c. 1800. D. Girton, Pigeon Fancyer, 107. The Smiter…. This pigeon … nearly resembles the tumbler, the size excepted, it being a much larger bird.
1854. Meall, Moubray’s Poultry, 377. Smiter.—This sub-variety, if it ever existed as distinct, has now entirely disappeared.
attrib. 1783. Latham, Gen. Synop. Birds, II. II. 614. Smiter Pigeon, Le Pigeon batteur.
