† dousern.1
Obsolete.
A heavy blow.
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the world > movement > impact > striking > striking with specific degree of force > [noun] > striking heavily > a heavy blow
smitea1200
ponder1339
clouta1400
whopc1440
routa1450
maul1481
sousec1500
dunta1522
flake1559
lambskin1573
lamback1592
daud1596
baster1600
mell1658
thumper1682
lounder1723
smash1725
plumper1756
spanker1772
douser1782
thud1787
bash1805
stave1819
batter1823
belter1823
wallop1823
whacker1823
belt1825
smasher1829
dingbat1843
dinger1845
oner1861
squeaker1877
clod1886
wham1923
dong1941
1782 B. Franklin Let. 9 Mar. in Wks. (1888) VII. 411 It was allowed..to give him a rising blow. Let ours be a douser.
1824 E. Fitzball Floating Beacon ii. ii. 28 I'll give this lubber such a douser, as shall send him to the bottom in a jiffey.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018).
dousern.2
/ˈdaʊsə/, U.S. /ˈdaʊsər/, /ˈdaʊzər/ 1. A person who or thing which extinguishes fires.
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1879 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 19 Nov. 8/2 (heading) The fire dousers.
1956 Washington Post 25 Oct. a24/4 That tireless, dedicated douser of brush fires, Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, now is busy jumping from one smoldering political front to another.
1988 Current Biogr. Yearbk. 301/1 Sand can also be..a douser of flame.
2016 Hindu (Nexis) 5 May Advanced fire-fighting equipment such as foam-based dousers..saved the day.
2. Cinematography and Theatre. In a projector or spotlight: a shutter or similar device that blocks outgoing light.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > projection > [noun] > apparatus for projecting films > parts of
sprocket1879
projection lens1894
cut-off1906
gate1909
claw1911
take-up1915
douser1917
sound gate1931
sound head1931
pull-down1933
1917 Motion Picture Nomencl. in Trans. Soc. Motion Picture Engineers No. 3 Douser, the manually operated door in the projecting machine which intercepts the light before it reaches the film.
1921 Trans. Soc. Motion Picture Engineers 114 I want to ask..if he accomplished all his focusing of the lamp forward and back by means of the small pin-hole in the douser.
1971 Business Screen Mag. Dec. 63 (advt.) AVCOM Dowser Kit is a push-pull shutter which cuts the light without turning off the motor.
2002 J. Holloway Illustr. Theatre Production Guide vi. 73/1 Dowsers absorb a lot of heat, especially if they are not opened up for a long period of time during the show.
2013 G. Kennel Color & Mastering for Digital Cinema (new ed.) v. 77 The ambient light level reflected from the screen..is measured with the projector lamp turned off or douser closed on the projector.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
dousern.3
/ˈdaʊsə/, U.S. /ˈdaʊsər/, /ˈdaʊzər/ A person who or thing which drenches someone or something with water or other liquid.
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1883 Good Words Aug. 544/1 The ‘doused’ and the ‘douser’ being at enmity.
1903 Youth's Compan. 10 Sept. 418/4 Down at the shingle mill he rigged what he called ‘a hydraulic douser’.
1942 Life 24 Aug. 4/1 (advt.) I used to douse to try and control dry, unruly hair. But like other dousers, I never got to first base—no matter what I doused with.
1979 M. J. Arlen Thirty Seconds (1981) 168 Another player..douses him with champagne; another player douses the first douser; and so forth.
2005 R. Madgic Shattered Air viii. 188 A storm was building over Tenaya Canyon. It's going to be a real douser, Campbell thought.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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