a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Exod. xxi. 29 Ȝif anox be a hornputter [a1425 L.V. a pultere with horn]..& þei han warnd þe lord of hym before wytnes, & þe lord has not holden hym inne, & he sla a man or womman, þe ox schall be þrow down to deþ with stones & þe lord of it þey schullen sla.

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Exod. xxi. 36 The oxe was a puttere [a1425 E.V. horn-putter; L. cornupeta].

1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. at Put Putter, an animal that buts with the head or horns.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) 3744 Skilful is iacob his nome, þat is to say in riȝt langage, Putter out [a1400 Vesp. Supplanter] of heritage.

a1425 (a1400) Northern Pauline Epist. (1916) Titus ii. 3 (MED) Þe oolde wymmen, conseyle þou to be in holy habite, not puttars of blame to ooþere [L. non criminatrices].

a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 83 Hale,..puttar to flicht Of fendis in battale.

1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. xxxii. 592 The putters of Iesus and of his disciples to death.

1591 H. Savile tr. Tacitus Ende of Nero: Fower Bks. Hist. iii. 160 Euery man was a commaunder, and no man a putter in execution.

1628 in P. H. Brown Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1900) 2nd Ser. II. 438 Aganis the putters or layers of greene lint in loches or running waters.

1677 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer i. 11 Thou art as troublesom to me, as..a young putter of Cases to his Mistress and Sempstress, who has Love in her head for another.

1763 H. S. J. Giral del Pino Dict. Eng. & Spanish II. at Flight A putter to flight, desbarátadór.

1823 C. Lamb Mackery End in Elia 175 The putter of the said question.

1847 L. Hunt Lying in Men, Women, & Bks. (1876) 133 O love of truth!..putter of security into the heart.

1987 Melody Maker 8 Aug. 8/2 For being a lying, disgusting pig dog putter of people into jail in the 1950s because of their membership of the Communist Party.

1516 in T. Thomson Coll. Inventories Royal Wardrobe (1815) 27 Item, ane cheffroun with ane putter with settis of perle siclik send to the quene in Ingland.

1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. F2^v This instrument [must] be heated in the fire, the better to stiffen the ruffe... And if you woulde know the name of this goodly toole, forsooth the deuill hath giuen it to name a putter, or else a putting sticke.

1807 Sir R. Wilson Let. 19 Oct. in Life (1862) II. viii. 374 The road..being made of putters or young trees a great portion of which had rotted, it was dreadful beyond description.

1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 14 in T. Nourse Mistery of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3) Barrow-Men, or Coal-Putters..put or pull away the full Curves of Coals.]

1812 J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. J. Hodgson (1857) I. 97 This work was done by putters and barrow-men, the latter pulling before, and the former putting or thrusting behind.

1841 Prize-ess. & Trans. Highland & Agric. Soc. Scotl. 13 304 The coals are brought from the wall faces in corves or tubs by females, who push or drag them on trams to the pit bottom..from the nature of their employment these females are named Putters.

1880 Daily News 17 Sept. 6/3 Two putter lads were found jammed against some broken tubs.

1909 Daily Chron. 27 Dec. 3/3 Hewers, it is also proposed, must do certain classes of stone work, and also putters' work, when required by the management.

1935 A. J. Cronin Stars look Down i. ix. 53 He drew up with a magnificent jolt at the putters' flat.

1989 M. Richler Solomon Gursky was Here (1990) III. vii. 170 Ephraim had only been employed in the mine for six months when he became a trapper boy, minding the doors to allow putters to pass with their ponies and coal tubs.

1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Putter awaye, expulsor.

1677 E. Coles Dict. Eng.-Lat. A putter away, Depulsor.

1929 Olean (N.Y.) Evening Times 11 Mar. 2/2 No comfort there for a paper bag putter away.

2001 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 1 Dec. 54 Tony..had been president, coach, adviser, arbiter, giver-out of prizes, putter-away of sets and jack of all trades.

1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Putter backe, repulsor.

1954 Times 1 Oct. 4/1 (advt.) There would be a striking lack of unanimity in our answers to the question: ‘Should the hands of the clock be put on or put back at the end of Summer Time?’ One trusts that the putters-back would outnumber the putters-on.

1492 in Acts Lords of Council Civil Causes (1839) I. 216/2 That þai persouns þ^t wer put furthe Call þe puttaris furthe of þaim.

1595 Kirkcudbright Town Council Rec. (1939) I. 324 Gif ony beis stait negligent in his vache his puttar furthe sall pey the vnlaw.

a1794 C. Phillips Mem. (1797) viii. 230 I write these remarks in reverence and thankfulness to the Great putter forth, and qualifier for the services he appoints.

1886 Eng. Historical Rev. 1 746 William Squire, the putter-forth of the ‘Squire Papers’, was before their issue concerned in two hoaxes.

1954 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 25 May 46/6 The gardener found it in order Not to remove from the border The passionate putter forth Of color.

a1652 R. Brome Novella v. i. sig. M, in Five New Playes (1653) The Chambermayde, a kind of putter forwards, Sir, to the businesse.

?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) II. lf. 223 Thou haste ben a theef. In stede to do Iustyce thou haste ben a murdrer and a putter in of fyre to brenne villages and howses.

1658 E. Leigh Second Considerations High Court 10 It is believed the putters in of frivolous exceptions have little encouragement thereto for the future.

1709 J. Ozell tr. M. de Cervantes Little Gypsie 34 Which made 'em as Uppish as the Composer of a Piece of Prize Musick, when he bears away the Bell from the rest of the Putters in.

1895 W. C. Steadman in F. W. Galton Workers on their Industries 63 The ‘putter-in’ puts the red-hot rivet into the holes already drilled, and the ‘holder-up’ holds a heavy hammer against one side of the rivet.

1998 Independent (Nexis) 29 Nov. 11 Nunn has staged more texts than subtexts, working with the putters-in—Shakespeare, Dickens, Victor Hugo—rather than the takers-out.

1708 C. Leslie View of Times IV. f. 41^v The first thing I would know is, whether you own yourself the Author or Putter-together of this book.

?1881 Census Eng. & Wales: Instr. Clerks classifying Occupations & Ages (?1885) 45 Scissors Putter Together.

1976 New Yorker 17 May 138/3 They should be the putters-together of the splinters.

2002 Interview (Nexis) 1 June 74 I just wanted to reestablish myself as a writer and a putter-together of sounds.

1701 G. Stanhope tr. St. Augustine Pious Breathings 22 Come, Thou putter down of the Proud, and Teacher of the Meek.

1869 A. Trollope He knew he was Right I. xxxv. 274 A republican, a putter-down of the Church, a hater of the Throne.

1906 P.T.O. 16 June 16/2 Three men as a rule take an active part in a forgery—the ‘putter-up’, the capitalist who finds the necessary funds; the ‘blacksmith’, the actual forger; and the ‘putter-down’, who actually presents the forged document and obtains the money.

1977 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 14 July 28/3 The Medawars are indeed great putters down of what they consider to be pretensions.

2005 Daily Post (Liverpool) (Nexis) 28 Oct. 3 Joan, the peerless putter-down of the famous and pompous, is relaxing in the way she loves best.

?1615 G. Chapman tr. Homer Odysses (new ed.) xviii. 283 Troy traines vp approued sonnes In deeds of Armes: Braue putters off of shaftes.

1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Queere-cole-fencer, a Receiver and putter off [of] false Money.

1774 J. Barclay et al. Compl. Eng. Dict. Delayer, one who delays the doing a thing; a putter-off.

1803 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1804) 7 227 Fabius is the patron saint of delayers and putters-off.

1973 S. Tyrrell Countryman's Tale 11 Being a champion putter-off I did not get started till they began calling me ‘old Syd’.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) ii. i. 143 You are abus'd, and by some putter on, That will be damn'd for't. View more context for this quotation

1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII i. ii. 25 My good Lord Cardinall, they vent reproches Most bitterly on you, as putter on Of these exactions. View more context for this quotation

1864 A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock (ed. 4) 254 He was a putter-on in a printwork.

1884 Sc. Reader 2 Aug. 139 John Girvan, Sweep, Slater, & Pig-putter-on.

1999 New Statesman (Nexis) 26 Apr. Duke was a natural gourmet and not a putter-on of false airs and graces.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) v. sig. Rr3 Ô knowe him, and become not the putters out of the worlds light.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iii. iii. 48 Men Whose heads stood in their brests? which now we finde Each putter out of fiue for one, will bring vs Good warrant of. View more context for this quotation

1639 in D. G. Hill Dedham (Mass.) Rec. (1892) III. 65 After the sayd owner or putter out of ye same Swyne shall haue knoweledge therof.

1787 J. Kirby Let. to Member of Parl. 16 The putter-out of the Wool.

1859 B. Brierley Daisy Nook 33 It ud melt th' heart of a weight-stone, or what's harder a putter-eawt.

1969 Times 20 Mar. 10/7 The abandoned concept of Britain as a putter-out of brush fires on behalf of the United Nations.

1991 J. B. Schor Overworked Amer. iii. 57 There was little capital, and materials were advanced by the capitalist ‘putters-out’.

1796 J. Watt Let. 9 Aug. in H. W. Dickinson Richard Trevithick (1934) ii.27 The wages mentioned..are the utmost we give to putters up of Engines.

1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. 199 Putter up, the projector or planner of a put-up affair, as a servant in a gentleman's family, who proposes to a gang of housebreakers the robbery of his master's house.

?1881 Census Eng. & Wales: Instr. Clerks classifying Occupations & Ages (?1885) 75 Hosiery Manufacture:..Putter-up.

1891 Pall Mall Gaz. 15 Sept. 2/3 [The bull] is..a beast of burden, or a putter-up of flesh for the benefit of the Madrid butchers.

1929 C. Humphreys Great Pearl Robbery i. 12 The police knew that Grizard was the ‘putter-up’.

1975 M. Crichton Great Train Robbery ii. 18 Edward Pierce..accumulated sufficient capital to finance large-scale criminal operations, thus becoming what was called ‘a putter-up’.

1975 Country Life 6 Feb. 325/1 As a putter-up of game one cannot imagine the clumber out-doing the springer.

2005 Boston Globe (Nexis) 24 July d9 I have a powerful urge to leave my desk and just get going on making gooseberry jam or pickling some eggs. It is an impulse that has passed down to me through generations of picklers, preservers, and putters-up.

1574 J. Davidsone Let. Nov. in D. Calderwood Hist. Kirk Scotl. (1843) III. 326 Which useth to happen to putters of a heavie stone.

1820 J. Hogg Winter Evening Tales I. 265 ‘Thou's naething of a putter,’ said Meg..‘an thou saw my billy Rwob putt, he wad send it till here.’

1884 H. C. Bunner in Harper's Mag. Jan. 303/1 The champion..putter of the ponderous weight.

1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 915 Sprint-runners, putters of weights, wrestlers and the like.

1921 Times 13 Aug. 6/2 Pole-leapers, caber-tossers, and putters of the stone.

2000 El Paso (Texas) Times (Nexis) 19 Apr. 1 He arrived from Norway as a putter of the shot and a thrower of the javelin.

1646 Dumfries Treas. Acc. MS 21 To Thomas Andersone for bringing out the twa cannons & the putter out of the water.

c1650 J. Spalding Memorialls Trubles Scotl. & Eng. (1850) I. 297 He had about 800 men..and six puttaris or schort peices of ordinans.

1909 J. Tennant Jeannie Jaffray 86 We ha'e ower mony o' thir worthless billets a'ready. Ram yer putters wi' them, bit pay ye me for yer drink.

1783 in C. B. Clapcott Laws (1935) 34 If any of the players..stop a Ball, whether from a Putter or any other Club, the Hole shall be lost to the Party so stopping.

1805 R. Forsyth Beauties Scotl. I. 84 The putter is used where a short stroke is intended.

1857 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) II. 693/2 The putter..is a short-shafted, stiff club, with a large, flattish head, and square face; it is used when the ball arrives within close proximity to the hole.

1876 M. M. Grant Sun-maid I. ix. 277 The ‘putter’ has expelled the mallet.

1931 F. L. Allen Only Yesterday viii. 207 Men..grabbed their five-star editions to read about Bobby Jones's exploits with his redoubtable putter.

1992 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Jrnl. 25 July c3/1 An inadvertent twitch of the putter on the 16th hole cost Donna Andrews sole control of the early lead.

1842 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 8 Oct. 298 Some men are good putters without being good drivers.

1889 W. T. Linskill Golf 21 A player who is a really good putter is often more than a match for the longest driver.

1931 Scots Mag. Sept. 404 He had a passion for golf (though never much of a player except as a putter).

1992 N.Y. Times 24 May viii. 5/3 Because he had to sneak onto the course on all other days, Sifford was always a poor putter.

1942 ‘N. Shute’ Pied Piper 224 There was a fishing~boat..coming in from the sea; faintly they heard the putter of an engine.

1964 J. Masters Trial at Monomoy ii. 56 The putter of the marine diesels and the slap and sigh of the sea.

1975 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 27 July 7/1 We had a small open boat with an inboard engine. This ‘putter’ would provide slow but reliable transportation.

1979 R. Laidlaw Lion is Rampant xiv. 111 I could hear the putter of farm machinery.

1992 Pilot (BNC) 57 The rasp of the Pratt and Whitney R985 radial engine is not quite so authentically nostalgic as the putter of the old Tiger Moth's Gipsy Major.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Brimboter, mumble, putter, mutter, grumble, or babble vnto himselfe.

1903 Eng. Dial. Dict. IV. 659/2 [Norfolk] She putters all day long.

1956 G. E. Evans Ask Fellows who cut Hay xxv. 228 Another feature of the dialect is the expressive vigour of many of the words and phrases: to putter, to nag or talk querulously.

1960 A. O. D. Claxton Suffolk Dial. 20th Cent. (ed. 2) 63 Putter, to nag, to talk to oneself.

1824 [implied in: M. Blennerhassett Widow of Rock & Other Poems 191 Like the raindrop's puttering sound, On the dozy fire-heap cast. (at puttering n.¹)].

1937 M. Lane At Last Island ix. 270 The boat puttered and back-fired out of the harbour.

1956 J. Masters Bugles & Tiger i. 31 A groaning truck..backfired and puttered steadily down the road to the plains.

1975 New Yorker 28 Apr. 98/3 They [sc. Hanoians] rent rowing shells or go for a ride in the motorboats that putter back and forth between its islands.

1996 Big Issue 5 Aug. 5/3 Once it [sc. a Morris Minor] reaches optimum speed it putters along nicely, making a sort of obscene, intestinal belch whenever you throttle down.

1827 M. A. Hedge Fortunate Employ 164 Yes, your honour, you know I must be puttering about a bit, especially to wait on you.

1867 J. Gilliss Let. 13 Sept. in So Far from Home (1993) 144 I am going to dust & trim my lamps and ‘putter’ around generally as they say in Oregon.

1882 Cent. Mag. Dec. 202/2 The aged grandfather of this group was usually absent after wood, or else puttering near the fire-place.

1907 J. M. Synge Let. 3 June (1971) 153 Yesterday we puttered about, and today we are going for another long expedition.

1952 Arena (N.Z.) 31 5 Real man of mystery he was these days. Puttering round the whare at all hours.

1977 G. Durrell Golden Bats & Pink Pigeons v. 121 The Box fish puttered to and fro like some weird, orange boat.

2001 Y. Martel Life of Pi (2002) lxiii. 190 Mid-morning to late afternoon:..restful activities (writing in diary,..upkeeping of equipment, puttering about locker).

1911 C. M. Flandrau Prejudices 26 They had puttered their lives away.

1925 R. Frost Let. 20 June (1964) 174 I am free to putter my days out without even writing any more.

2002 N. Shusterman Shattered Sky 241 Maybe I'm just tired of watching you puttering your days away.

1853 Methodist Q. Rev. July 365 The indefatigable editor of the Writings of Washington is no putterer with the blank pages of index rerums.

1933 J. Cozzens Cure of Flesh i. 73 He merely lacked the sharpened eye to see that his father was an aimless old putterer.

2006 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Jrnl.-Gaz. (Nexis) 13 Aug. f6 Gregory is a garden putterer not a gardening expert.