† buntern.1
/ˈbʌntə/, U.S. /ˈbən(t)ər/ Obsolete exc. dialect.
‘A cant word for a woman who picks up rags about the street; and used, by way of contempt, for any low vulgar woman’ (Johnson). (Also see quots.) Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > clearing of refuse matter > refuse disposal > [noun] > rag-collecting or dust-heap picking > one who
kennel-raker1570
finder1607
rag-raker1631
rag-picker1680
bunter1706
rake-kennel1707
rag collector1820
rag gatherer1851
chiffonier1856
gutter-snipe1869
picker1884
tatter1890
totter1891
dumpster diver1985
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > low rank or condition > the lowest class > [noun] > person of the lowest class > woman
customer1583
bulker1673
bunter1706
poissarde1791
1706 E. Ward Hudibras Redivivus II. ii. 25 Punks, Strolers, Market Dames, and Bunters.
1721 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. Bunter, a gatherer of Rags in the Streets for the making of Paper.
1758 Monthly Rev. 19 184 A nasty bunter or stinking dirty fish drab.
1759 H. Walpole Par. Register in A. Dobson Fielding v. 118 There Fielding met his bunter muse.
1763 Brit. Mag. 4 542 I heard a bunter at the Horse-guards last Friday evening swear she would not venture into the Park.
1819 Abeillard & Hel. 344 Complete fox-hunters and much addicted to the bunters.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 142/1 Old women alone gathered the substance [sc. dogs' dung], and they were known by the name of ‘bunters’, which signifies properly gatherers of rags.
1862 B. Hemyng in H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) Extra vol. 223/1 There is a class of women technically known as ‘bunters’, who take lodgings, and after staying some time run away without paying their rent.
1891 C. Wordsworth Rutland Words 5 Bunter, a disreputable woman. ‘She stood at the gate and called me a bunter.’
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
buntern.2
Geology.
= New Red Sandstone n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > age or period > stratigraphic units > [noun] > secondary or Mesozoic > Triassic > specific
red marl1625
Muschelkalk1824
poecilite1832
keuper1844
bunter1874
Karoo beds1876
1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. (1850) xiii. 187 The Muschelkalk, Keuper, and Bunter Sandstein.]
1874 C. Lyell Elem. Geol. (1885) xxii. 331 The basement beds of the Keuper rest with a slight unconformability, upon an eroded surface of the Bunter.
1881 J. E. Lee Note-bk. Amateur Geol. 72 The bone-bed has evidently filled cracks or hollows in the ‘bunter’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
buntern.3
dialect.
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‘An old-fashioned machine for cleaning corn.’ Parish Sussex Dial. 1875.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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