释义 |
ˈwaferer, n. Obs. exc. Hist. Also 5 waferare, -ere, 4–7 wafrer, waffrer. [a. AF. wafrer, f. wafre wafer n. Cf. AL. waferarius.] A maker or seller of wafers or thin cakes. The itinerant wafer-sellers of both sexes had the repute of being ready to act as intermediaries in amatory intrigues. Cf. wafer-woman, wafrestre. In royal and other great households there were one or more ‘waferers’, whose duties probably included the making of confectionery in general.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. vi. 120 ‘I-wis,’ quaþ a waferer, ‘wust I þis for soþe, Schulde I neuere forþere a fote for no freres prechinge’. 1393Ibid. C. xvi. 199 Mynstralcie can ich nat muche, bote make men murye, As a waffrer with waffres. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 12 Ȝif þei [the religious] ben made wafreris, ȝeuynge lordes, ladies and riche men a fewe peris, appelis or nottis to haue huge ȝiftis to þe couent, euyl þei coueiten here neȝeboris goodis. c1386Chaucer Pard. T. 151 Syngeres with harpes, Baudes, wafereres. a1483Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 72 Offyce of Wafere[r]s, hathe one yoman making wafyrs. c1515Cocke Lorell's B. 9 Yermongers, py-bakers, and waferers. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) 2 Fyrste was he hosteler, and than a wafrer. 1679–88Moneys Secr. Serv. Chas. II & Jas. II (Camden) 107 To William Clopton, in lieu of all fees claimed by him as waferer to his said Majestie on the day of the coronation 30 0 0. 1861Our Engl. Home 70 The brilliancy of a mediaeval feast was chiefly due to the ingenuity of the waferers, or confectioners. So † ˈwafrestre [-estre, -ster], a female waferer.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 641 ‘Wite god,’ quod a wafrestre [A text waferere], ‘wist I þis for sothe, Shulde I neuere ferthere a fote, for no freres prechynge.’ |