swalern.
/ˈsweɪlə/ north midlands dialect.
A dealer in corn: see quots.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trader > traders or dealers in specific articles > [noun] > in grain
oatmonger1300
corn-monger?1518
corn-merchant1556
corn-master1579
swaler1597
hop-merchant1639
cornfactor1699
corn-dealer1707
corn-jobber1795
grain-merchant1838
grain-dealer1840
grain-bag1890
1597 in Court Leet Rec. Manch. (1885) II. 130 No swaller that ys a fforrener..shall sell or measure any corne vpon any other daye then vppon the Saturdaye and mundaye.
1743–4 Alstonfield Par. Const. Acc. (E.D.D.) Paid for writing warrants for badgers and swalers to take licenses, £00.0.06.
1829 S. Glover Hist. County of Derby I. 198 The people who deal in oatmeal are called swalers or mealmen.
1848 A. B. Evans Leicestershire Words Swaler, a person whose trade it is to prepare oats into grits, meal, &c.: from ‘swealing’, or ‘swaling’, i.e., wasting or lessening the grain a little.
1887 T. Darlington Folk-speech S. Cheshire Sweeler, a dealer in corn.
1896 W. W. Skeat & T. Hallam Pegge's Two Coll. Derbicisms Badger... He is called also a swailer, I suppose from melting or swealing the oats; for the badger or swailer is one that sells oatmeal.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1918; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.1597