v. Now dial. and techn. Also 5 tere, 7–9 tear, 8 tire, 9 teere. [ME. teren, teeren, app. a. OF. terer, terrer to cover or spread with earth, to plaster, to daub, f. terre earth.]
1. trans. To spread or cover with earth; to daub with clay, to construct (a wall, etc.) with clay or cob; to coat with plaster or the like, to plaster.
1382. Wyclif, Amos vii. 7. Loo! the Lord stondynge on a wall teerid [v.rr. plastrid, pargeted; Vulg. stans super murum litum], or morterd, and in the hond of hym a truel of masoun. [Cf. Ezek. xiii. 10 thei dawbeden, gloss or pargetiden, it [a wall] with fen with outen chaffis: Vulg. liniebant eum luto absque paleis: French Bible, 1543, ilz le terroient de mortier sans paille.]
14[?]. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 616/11. Terro, i. terram alicui supponere, to tere or daube.
1426–7. Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 66. Also for ij lode lomb for teringe of þe chambre…. Also for a lode lyme.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 489/2. Teryn, or hylle wythe erþe, terriculo.
1632. in Fraser’s Mag., Oct. (1864), 518. Pd for tearing of the house & chimney, 8. 0.
1742. in Graham, Soc. Life Scotl. in 18th C. (1901), I. viii. 55, note. For colouring and tearing the church doors and lettering them and colouring and tearing the wall opposite to your burial-place and lettering the same, 8 sh.
1847–78. Halliwell, Teer, (3) to daub with clay. Hence a clay wall is sometimes called a teer-wall. Teere, to plaster between rafters. Lanc.
b. To plaster or spread thickly (butter, etc.).
c. 1850. Northampt. Dial., You teer the butter all over the bread just as if it cost nothing.
1881. Leicester Gloss, Teer, to smear; daub; spread…. ‘Teer the treacle,’ i. e. spread it on bread.
2. Calico-printing. (See quot. 1839.)
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 226. The colour is teared [ed. 1875 teered]…, or spread even, with a wooden scraper as broad as the canvass.
1899. Wallace, Schoolmaster, ix. 354. Teerer, a boy or girl employed to teer … the colour-sieve stretched … on a frame at printworks.
Hence Teering vbl. sb. (from sense 1), daubing or plastering with clay or cob; also, plastering or daubing generally; Teering ppl. a. that ‘teers’; esp. in teering-boy (also teer-boy, tire-boy), in calico-printing, a boy whose work was to spread a fresh surface of color on the printer’s ‘pad’ each time he used it; also Teerer (see quots.); Teery a. dial., sticky, smeary.
1426–7, 1632. Teering [see sense 1].
1780. A. Young, Tour Irel., II. 36. Twelve printers. Twelve tire boys. Three print cutters.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 226. The instant before the printer daubs the block upon the canvass, the tearer [ed. 1875 teerer], boy or girl, runs the scraper across it to renew its surface.
1847–78. Halliwell, Tiring-boy, one who stirs the colour about in printing cloth, &c. Lanc.
1848. A. B. Evans, Leicester Words, 96. Teary, pron. Teery, sticky. ‘Handling the sugar will make your hands teary.’… ‘The ground’s so very “teary” after the frost,’ i.e. heavy and clogging.
1895. Oracle Encycl., I. 585/2. For each [calico-] printer an attendant or ‘teerer’ was required—a boy whose duty was to spread evenly the colour on a prepared smooth cloth surface, on to which the printer dipped his block.
1904. in Eng. Dial. Dict., s.v., Tear-boys were very common in Lancashire.
