[f. SPOT v. or sb.1]
1. One who makes spots.
1611. Cotgr., Barbouilleur,… a blotter, spotter, smutter, besmearer of.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., I. Brodeuse de Gaze, a Spotter of Hoods, a Woman that spots Hoods.
1755. Johnson, Spotter, one that spots; one that maculates.
1881. Instr. Census Clerks (1885), 70. [Persons employed in] Lace Finishing:… Spotter, Stamper [etc.].
b. A device for making spots on watch-plates.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 245. This upright spindle carrying the spotter is kept constantly rotating by a band from a foot wheel.
2. U.S. A spy or detective, esp. one employed by a company to keep watch on employees, or one who watches for infringements of prohibition-laws.
1878. O. W. Holmes, Motley, 139. He was a paid ‘spotter,’ sent by some jealous official to report on the foreign ministers.
1883. American, VI. 333. A conductor … had a private detective arrested for following him about, and the ‘spotter’ was fined ten dollars by a magistrate.
b. In target practice, one who notes the point where a shot strikes; a marker.
1893. Daily News, 21 July, 5/6. Surridge got a bull ‘just in at ten o’clock,’ to use the spotter’s descriptive slang.
