Also 5 -are. [f. SPELL v.2 So Du. and Flem. speller.]
1. One who spells, or spells out, words, one having a specified proficiency in spelling; an authority on spelling.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 468/1. Spellare, sillabicator.
1598. Chapman, Sev. Bks. Iliad, To Rdr. I write … to him that will disdaine those easie obiections, which euery speller may put together.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., s.v., A good Speller, in point or Writing. Ibid., A bad Speller.
1776. Pennsylv. Even. Post, 28 March, 160/2. He … is a poor writer and speller.
1858. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., VI. iii. II. 37. The worst speller ever known.
1882. Scudder, Noah Webster, ii. 38. Webster was a moralist and a philosopher as well as a speller.
2. A seeker after something.
1796. Paine, Writ. (1895), III. 217. John Adams … it is known was always a speller after places and offices.
3. U.S. A spelling-book.
1864. in Webster.
1882. Scudder, Noah Webster, ii. 70. The popularity of the speller rendered it liable to piracy.
1904. Westm. Gaz., 25 May, 4/2. The extremely primitive primers and ‘spellers.’
