One who bears a tankard; spec. † a. One employed in drawing and carrying water from the public pumps and conduits (obs.); b. A cup-bearer.
c. 1515. Cocke Lorell’s B., 10. Tankarde berers, bouge men, and spere planers.
1532. More, Confut. Barnes, VIII. Wks. 738/2. King or subiect, carter or cardinal, butcher or bishop, tanckerdberer or kennel raker.
1538. Elyot, Amphorarius, he that beareth the potte, a tankarde bearer.
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., I. ii. Like a tankard-bearer at a conduit. Ibid. (1601) (Qo.), III. iii. What? a tankard-bearer, a thread-bare rascall, a begger.
1675. Brooks, Gold. Key, Wks. 1867, V. 164. He begs water of a poor tankard-bearer to refresh himself in his weariness and thirst: John xix. 28.
So Tankard-bearing a.
16[?]. Marvell, Tom May’s Death. For a tankard-bearing Muse must we, As for the basket, Guelphs and Ghibelines be.
