drawern.
/ˈdrɔː(r)ə/, U.S. /ˈdrɔər/, /ˈdrɑər/ (in branches II. and III.)Brit. /drɔː/, U.S. /drɔr/ I. A person who or thing that draws something or someone (in various senses of draw v.).† 6. A person who compiles or composes something, or who writes out something in the proper or official form; esp. one who drafts or draws up a legal document. Obsolete.More commonly in drawer-up (see Compounds 1).
1. A person whose job it is to pull or haul something as part of a manufacturing process. Now chiefly historical.Formerly common in a variety of specific technical applications, such as: (a) (Coal Mining) a person who transports coal from the pit face to the bottom of the shaft, or from the bottom of the shaft to the surface; a haulier; (b) (Weaving) a person who puts the warp into the splits or heddles; one who draws warps through the combs and reels; (c) (in a gasworks, ironworks, etc.) a person who removes the coke from an oven or furnace.Frequently with modifying noun denoting the thing pulled or hauled. See also cloth-drawer n., tube-drawer n., wire-drawer n. 1.Attested earliest in surnames.
ΚΠ
1265 in C. W. Bardsley & A. Bardsley Dict. Eng. & Welsh Surnames (1901) 820/1 Robert le Wyrdraere.
1528 in J. S. Brewer Lett. & Papers Reign Henry VIII (1872) (modernized text) IV. ii. 1724 Francis Capone, gold drawer of London.
1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer iii. f. cccliiii/2 The euen draught of the wyre drawer, maketh the wyre to ben euen.
1599 J. Minsheu Percyvall's Dict. Spanish & Eng. 230 Tiradór de óro, a drawer of golde wire.
1678 J. Vernon Compl. Compting-house 2 My Father sent me the other day to take some Stufs with our man from several Places. I had of our Packer 6 Dyer 19 Presser 17 Drawer 4.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 41/2 The Sleek stone, a ball made of glass, which Landresses and Drawers of Cloath use to polish or sleeken their Linnen with.
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 111 Gold and Silverwyer-drawers.
1747 W. Hooson Miners Dict. sig. vijv The Drawer..lets down the empty Corfe faster or slower as he thinks fit.
1864 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 25 ii. 315 The straw drawers..purchase the straw in the bulk.
1883 Manch. Examiner 27 Nov. 5/5 As the getters can do nothing without the drawers, the mine is stopped.
1894 Standard 5 Apr. 3/6 A number of loomers and drawers..met the employers in conference yesterday.
1931 Colliery Guardian 3 July 51/2 He was injured by accident while acting as a drawer in their employment on November 27, 1929.
1969 L. H. C. Tippett Portrait Lancs. Textile Industry iii. 74 Every warp end has to be threaded through its heald eye and its proper space in the reed, and this is done away from the loom by a ‘drawer’.
2010 Q. R. Skrabec Henry Clay Frick iii. 42 It took a coke drawer three hours to get the coke out of an oven and another three hours to charge it.
2. In general use. A person (or animal) who draws something or someone (in various other senses of draw v.).In early use frequently with modifying noun denoting the thing drawn or carried. Middle English examples of wine-drawer (cf. quots. 1294, 1319) are more likely to show this sense (i.e. ‘carrier and seller of wine, wine-porter’; these individuals formed a recognized occupational group) than sense 3 (see wine-drawer n.).See also lot-drawer.Attested earliest in surnames.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impelling or driving > pushing and pulling > [noun] > pulling > one who or that which
drawer1294
puller1332
dragger?a1500
haler1534
hauler1674
draughtsman1795
trailer1808
tractor1856
1294 Patent Roll, 22 Edward I 8 Nov. (P.R.O.: C 66/113) m. 2 Ade le Wyndrawer.
1319 in E. Ekwall Two Early London Subsidy Rolls (1951) 337 De Willelmo Wyndrawere, x d. [identified with William le Porter (1321)].
1327 in B. Thuresson Middle Eng. Occup. Terms (1950) 98 (MED) Joh. Drahere.
1340–1 in F. Collins Reg. Freemen York (1897) I. 35 Alanus de Wifestow, mukdragher.
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 393 (MED) Defaute is not in þis drawer [sc. Christ] whi þes fendis lymes ben not drawun..þei fasten not on þis drawere.
?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) II. lf. 252v The whiche was..the best shoter and drawer of a bowe.
1537 Bible (Matthew's) Josh. ix. 21 Hewers of wodd, and drawers of water.
1640 Remonstr. Present Troubles Estates Scotl. 20 The drawers of his Majesty to this action.
1725 R. Parke Let. Oct. in K. Miller et al. Irish Immigrants in Land of Canaan (2003) 81 The horses here are not So large as in Ireland but the best drawers.
1781 P. Beckford in D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rural Sports (1840) §1719 It is a modern fashion for the huntsman..to ride into the cover..but this proceeding is apt to render hounds bad drawers.
1838 A. De Morgan Ess. Probabilities 58 Before the drawing [of the white ball] was made, it was three to one that the drawer should go to the first urn.
1920 M. Beerbohm in I. Hamilton Penguin Bk. 20th-cent. Ess. (1999) 40 A mere asker of questions, or drawer of comparisons between this and that brand of cigarettes.
2015 @poopledrank 27 Apr. in twitter.com (accessed 14 May 2019) I'm a world-class drawer of conclusions.
3. A person who draws and serves alcoholic drinks for customers in a tavern or inn; a tapster. Now rare (archaic or historical).In early use frequently with modifying noun. See also small-beer drawer, tavern-drawer n., wine-drawer n. (with the latter cf. also note at sense 2).Attested earliest in surnames.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > providing or serving drink > [noun] > serving liquor > tapster or barmaid
tapsterc1000
drawer1379
wine-drawer1415
birlerc1440
shenkerc1440
trayer1473
tranter1500
skinker1575
lick-spigot1599
shot-shark1600
runner1601
skink1603
Hebe1606
Ganymede1608
squire of the gimlet1611
skinkard1615
bombard-man1616
bar-boy1631
faucet1631
tapstress1631
potman1652
barmaida1658
pot-boyc1662
tavern-drawer1709
tavern-boy1796
pot-girl1797
tap-boy1801
knight of the spigot1821
pewter-carrier1834
bartender1836
tap-waiter1836
barman1837
beer-boy1841
mixologist1856
bar-girl1857
mixer1858
gin slinger1871
swamper1907
tap-man1907
pot-woman1918
bar-staff1965
bar-person1976
1379 in C. Fenwick Poll Taxes 1377, 1379 & 1381 (2005) III. 64/4 Johannes Aledrawer'.
1567 Triall of Treasure sig. Diii Drawer, let vs haue a pynte of white wyne & borage.
1604 Meeting of Gallants sig. C4v Why then Drawers, quench me with double Beere.
1640 MS Canterbury Marriage Licences John Williamson of Canterbury, Beeredrawer.
1703 Athenian Oracle I. 312 If there's a drop, he gets good Wine, And if the Drawer brings it fine, Can mount him to the Stars.
1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 16. ⁋5 Thundering to the drawer for another bottle.
1898 Sunday Sentinel (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) 17 July 19/1 The drawer of beer seems to delight in employing..all the ways that there are of making the consumer pay the tax.
2013 J. Higginbotham Girlhood of Shakespeare's Sisters i. 45 In Plymouth, where Bess is a drawer of wine, she is frequently called a ‘wench’.
4.
a. An instrument, tool, or agent used for pulling out or extracting something. Now rare.Frequently with modifying noun denoting the thing extracted; see also ball-drawer n., bullet-drawer n., linch-drawer n., pile-drawer n., etc.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > tool > types of tools generally > [noun] > for performing specific processes
drawerc1400
blocker1407
roller1728
screena1764
scrieve iron1785
notcher1858
opener1874
truer1875
crimper1876
sheller1883
stroker1884
c1400 MS Arun. 42 in A. Way Promptorium Parvulorum (1865) 525 (note) It [sc. Rubea minor] is a noble drawere of quyteour and felþe, and soris, and of þyngys infix in þe flessh.
c1540 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. xvii. viii. f. 248v/2 Ane instrument of tre like the drawer of ane wel.
1587 L. Mascall First Bk. Cattell iii. sig. G2 The drawers of venome are these, the flesh of a snake, or adder, cut and laid to straight.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 413 Get out the grauel with a cornet, or drawer.
1737 H. Bracken Farriery Improved xxi. 320 Such Medicaments as are..stiled Ripeners or Drawers.
1794 Rep. Arts & Manuf. 1 247 Fig. 2. represents the nail-drawer in the action of extracting a spike.
1882 U.S. Patent 267,265 4/2 The cartridge-shell is struck at its lower edge opposite the cartridge extractor or drawer.
1935 U.S. Patent 2,015,194 1/2 A device which comprises a pair of jaws..capable of being engaged and lifted by a spike drawer or like tool.
2000 P. Bishop Small Tools Handbk. iii. 38 (caption) An old chisel adapted to become a nail drawer.
b. U.S. Printing. In hand printing: the inner tympan, used in conjunction with the outer tympan to adjust printing pressure (see tympan n. 4). Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > printing machine or press > parts of printers or presses > [noun] > tympan
tympan1580
drawer1837
1837 T. F. Adams Typographia viii. 243 The inner tympan, or drawer, is covered in the same manner.
1866 T. MacKellar Amer. Printer 243 The drawer, or frame which answers to the tympan-frame of a hand-press, is best covered with parchment or India-rubber cloth.
1929 Bull. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Oct. 505 For covering a tympan and drawer, $1.50, or 75 cents for either.
2004 R.-G. Rummonds 19th-cent. Printing Pract. & Iron Handpress I. vi. 203 Like most American printers, Gazlay favored the term drawer for the inner tympan. He also stresses using a strong material for covering the drawer.
5. A person who draws a picture or design; a draughtsperson.See also picture-drawer n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > drawing > [noun] > drawer or designer
drawer1570
designer1598
draftsman1664
morphographer1697
draughtsmanc1720
composer1723
sketcher1809
draughtswoman1845
fancier1856
proportionalist1857
draftman1889
graphic designer1971
draughtsperson1976
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. 688/2 Certaine there were which resorted to him, of whom some were drawers for his petygree and vyniet.
1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 530 We will not allowe the drawer to leaue it out altogether.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 656 The drawer made the nostrils lesse then might answere the proportion of the face.
1705 tr. W. Bosman New Descr. Coast of Guinea xiv. 234 For want of a good Drawer I cannot send you the Draughts of all of them.
1781 J. Watt Let. 1 Oct. in J. P. Muirhead Origin & Progress Mech. Inventions J. Watt (1854) II. 131 I should be very glad to engage him for a drawer.
1832 J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. J. Hodgson (1858) II. 289 A good drawer and surveyor.
1948 Life 8 Nov. 78 Roosevelt..commented on his talent for art. ‘He said I was da best drawer in da school,’ Gatto remembers.
2005 W. Shepherd in A. Talay-Ongan & E. A. Ap Child Devel. xvii. 325 But Lachlan is a really good drawer!
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal document > [noun] > art of drawing up > one who
breviator1546
drawer1577
1577 T. Cartwright Rest of Second Replie agaynst Dr. Whitgiftes Second Answer ii. iv. 234 The drawer of the book, might haue called the holy Communion a mas, because the ignorant sort, doe so.
1602 J. Colleton Iust Def. Slandered Priestes 135 The drawer of the foresaid Bill of complaint against our two brethren.
1647 Questions conc. Remedies Courts of Equity 5 The ancient Clerks in Chancery that formerly were very learned and expert drawers and penners of speciall Writs.
1776 Claim of Roy Rada Churn 19/1 The drawer of the affidavit.
1884 Law Rep.: Appeal Cases 9 465 The drawer of this Act of Parliament.
1892 W. E. Gladstone in Daily News 22 Oct. 5/7 The drawer of the paper..has made one omission.
1927 N.Y. Times 3 Mar. 48/2 Ellison..is suing..Lewis L. Delafield, lawyer and drawer of the will.
7. A person who writes or issues a cheque, draft, or bill of exchange.Cf. refer to drawer.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > paper money > promissory notes or bills of exchange > [noun] > a promissory note or bill of exchange > holder of > one who draws draft or bill of exchange
drawer1638
1638 L. Roberts Merchants Mappe of Commerce ii. 14 The giver or deliverer of the money..did also run a certain risgoe in the payment thereof, which the receiver or drawer injoyed, and profited by.
1651 J. Marius Advice Bills of Exchange 24 The drawer of the Bill was failed of his credit.
1682 J. Scarlett Stile of Exchanges v. 29 The Drawer when he hath made his Bill, should make the Direction on the inside of it towards the left Hand.
1739 R. Hayes Negociator's Mag. (ed. 4) xxxv. 173 A Remitter, or Drawer, for Account of a third Person, should also give punctual Advice to the Party for whose Account it is drawn.
1767 T. Hutchinson Hist. Province Massachusets-Bay, 1691–1750 ii. 191 No merchants..would take bills, unless the drawers would make themselves responsible.
1847 C. G. Addison Treat. Law Contracts (1883) ii. v. §1 783 Securities..available to the bill-holders if both drawer and acceptor become insolvent.
1949 Manch. Guardian 8 Dec. 2/7 The cheque came back marked ‘Payment countermanded by drawer by telephone’.
2005 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 13 July Cheques for deposit into an account can be drawn on Saturdays, provided both the payee and the drawer are from the same bank.
II. A box-shaped storage compartment without a lid, and related senses.
8. A box-shaped storage compartment without a lid, made to slide horizontally in and out of a desk, chest, or other item of furniture or storage. Cf. draw n. 2.See also bottom drawer n., chest of drawers n., top drawer n. 1
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > box > [noun] > drawer
till1452
draw box1531
drawer1565
draw1605
shuttle1626
tiller1693
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > [noun] > parts of furniture generally > drawer
drawer1565
1565 J. Shute in tr. P. Viret 1st Pt. Christian Instr. Pref. sig. a.i He..commaunded one of his seruauntes..to go into his garde robe and to bryng hym a litle booke..: which was in a certaine boxe or drawer.
1687 London Gaz. No. 2231/4 A drawing Walnut-Tree Box, with two Drawers in it,..to put Mathematical Instruments in.
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 245. ⁋2 A small Cabinet, with Six Drawers.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 251 All his bookcases and drawers were examined.
1931 R. Riskin Platinum Blonde in Six Screenplays (1997) 52 (stage direct.) He walks over to a chifferobe and starts opening the drawers.
2005 J. M. Coetzee Slow Man x. 67 He fishes out the key to the store from a mess of keys in a drawer.
9. In plural. A chest of drawers or other item of furniture or storage containing drawers.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > chest of drawers > [noun]
pulk1577
case1674
chest of drawers1677
drawers1699
bureau1722
1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. ii. ii. 62 Corners of Drawers of [sic] Cabinets.
1732 Proc. Sessions Peace London & Middlesex for 1732 2 46/2 Under the Drawers I found another [handkerchief] with 17l. in Silver in it.
1850 Mrs. F. Vidal Orphan ii. 11 I moved away my pink ribbon off the drawers.
2018 Sun (Nexis) 16 Dec. Pieces went everywhere and some of them went under the drawers.
III. An item of clothing or covering.† 11. A case or slip for a pillow or bolster. Only in pillow drawer, bolster drawer. Obsolete (regional in later use).
10. In plural. A short-legged loose-fitting item of underwear or similar article of clothing covering the lower torso and upper part of the legs; underpants. In early use and later regional use also: †stockings (obsolete). Also in pair of drawers. Cf. knickers n. 2. Now dated or humorous.In quot. 16112 in singular: one of a pair of stockings (obsolete rare).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and lower body > [noun] > trousers > types of > wide or loose
slops1481
shipman's hose1540
slop1560
shipman's breek1563
drawers1567
kelsouns1568
scaling1577
scavilones1577
scabilonian1600
calzoons1615
linings1631
swabber-slopsa1658
pantaloon1686
underslops1737
trousers1773
pyjamas1801
Cossacks1820
Turkish trousers1821
hakama1822
salwar1824
slacks1824
sherwal1844
overall1845
bag1853
sack-pants1856
bloomer1862
trouser skirt1883
petticoat trousers1885
mompe1908
step-in1922
bombachas1936
baggies1962
jams1966
palazzo1970
hose-
1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) sig. G.iii Here I set before thee..the leud lousey language of these lewtering Luskes... Which language they terme Peddelars Frenche... A commission, a shierte. drawers, hosen. stampers, shooes.
1576 Inventory in J. T. Fowler Acts Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1875) 378 A paire of drawers of mockadoo.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Brayes, short (and close) breeches, drawers, or vnderhose, of linnen, &c.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues House, a drawer, or course stocking worne ouer a finer, by countrey people.
1655 Ld. Newbrugh Let. May in E. Nicholas Nicholas Papers (1892) II. 290 I haue sent an Indian gowne and stuff for drawers.
1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 1 Apr. (1965) I. 326 The first piece of my dresse is a pair of drawers, very full, that reach to my shoes.
1791 G. Huddesford Salmagundi 66 Cricket, nimble boy and light, In slippers red and drawers white.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 2nd Ser. 337 Knee cords and tops, superseded nankeen drawers and rosetted shoes.
1893 A. Sinclair & W. Henry Swimming (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) 374 A skin-tight costume..with bathing-drawers underneath of silk.
1938 R. Wright Big Boy Leaves Home in Uncle Tom's Children (1991) 239 Yo mama don wear no drawers.
2000 Weekly World News 27 June 31/1 Fun-loving Jason dropped his drawers and mooned them just for laughs.
ΚΠ
1587 Will of Richard Shorye 3 Mar. in A. Ponsonby Priory & Manor of Lynchmere and Shulbrede (1920) viii. 133 (modernized text) I feather bed and feather bolster, two feather pillows, i pair of pillow drawers.
1646 Inventory Catton Hall in Reliquary Jan. (1881) 177 One fetherbed 2 bolsters..a paire of sheets 2 pillow drawers.
1700 Will of Mary Halsey in W. S. Pelletreau Early Long Island Wills Suffolk County 1691–1703 (1987) 205 Two napkins one pillow drawer and one sheep.
1898 Eng. Dial. Dict. I. 332/1 Bolster-drawer, a pillow-case or slip.
Compounds
C1. With adverbs, forming compound agent nouns corresponding to adverbial combinations of the verb (cf. draw v. Phrasal verbs 1), as in drawer-in, drawer-on, drawer-out, drawer-off, drawer-up, etc.
ΚΠ
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) Judges viii. 10 Þowsandis of fiȝteris & of draweris owt swerd [a1425 Corpus Oxf. drawers out swerd; a1425 L.V. men drawynge out swerd; L. bellatorum educentium gladium].
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Tim. i. 10 The lawe it not puttith [emended in ed. to is not put] to a iust man, but to vniust.., to..fornycatours, to hem that trespassen with malis aȝens kynde, silleris, or steleris, or draweris awey, of men, lesyngmongeris [L. fornicariis, masculorum concubitoribus, plagiariis, mendacibus].
c1430 N. Love Mirror Blessed Life (Brasenose e.9) (1908) 13 (MED) Preie he, for charitie, specialy for the auctour and the drawere out therof.
1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer i. f. cccxxxi Thilke thynges ben my drawers in.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Retrayeur, a redeemer, a fetcher or drawer back of.
1614 W. B. tr. Philosophers Banquet (ed. 2) i. iii. 18 The ayre is a great..drawer-on, of health.
1847 C. G. F. Gore Castles in Air v. (Stratm.) The drawer-up of my godfather's will.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 9 Oct. 3/1 ‘Drawers-off’ in saw-mills.
1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §368 Drawer, drawer-in,..healder, in-taker,..attaches weaving beam to drawing-in frame, and draws each warp yarn, separately, with a hook, through eye (or loop) of heald, and through dent of reed in loom.
2014 S. May Wake up Happy Every Day xix. 127 We need an architect... A drawer-up of plans, a supervisor of the building process.
C2. General use as a modifier (in sense 8), as in drawer front, drawer handle, drawer unit, etc.
ΚΠ
1788 Cabinet-makers London Bk. Prices 139 Extra's..Veneering the inside of drawer fronts.
1850 J. Chubb On Constr. Locks & Keys 14 A three-inch drawer-lock.
1951 Pop. Sci. Mar. 191/2 Run a groove around the inside for a drawer bottom.
1967 Observer 21 May 30/5 A work-top bridging two drawer units makes a perfectly good dressing-table.
2013 Guardian (Nexis) 16 Nov. (Weekend Suppl.) 5 There are..refitted drawer handles that still come off in your hand.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2022; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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