1580 C. Hollyband Treasurie French Tong Roder le pays, to make a roade in the countrey... Vn rodeur ou coureur, a roder or wighrider [1593 wayrider].

a1584 S. Borough in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) ii. 313 I caused the Pinnesse to beare in with the shore,..and [she] saw two roaders ride in the sounde.

1599 E. Wright Voy. Earle of Cumberl. 15 in Certaine Errors Navigation By the way as we rowed we sawe boates passing betwixt the roaders and the shoare.

1612 W. Strachey Lawes in P. Force Tracts (1844) III. ii. 18 No Captaine, Master, or Mariner..shall depart or carry out of our riuer, any Ship, Barke, Barge, Gally, Pinnace &c. Roaders belonging to the Colonie, [etc.].

1692 Smith's Sea-mans Gram. (new ed.) i. xvi. 81 A Road, is any place near the Land where Ships may ride at Anchor, and a Ship riding there is called a Roader.

1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine at Riding When a ship..pitches violently into the sea, so as to strain her cables, masts, or hull, it is called riding hard, and the vessel is termed a bad roader.

1801 J. J. Moore Brit. Mariner's Vocab. (at cited word) Roader or Roadster... If a vessel under sail strike against any roader and damage her, the former is obliged by law to make good the damages sustained by the latter.

1828 J. Ross Treat. Navigation by Steam v. 84 The anchors necessary for a steam ship, may be considerably less in weight, than those required for a sailing vessel..because her length renders her a better roader.

1824 London Lit. Gaz. 3 Jan. 11/5 They hired my mare, as capital a roader as ever was backed, thof [sic] I say it myself.

1884 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 7 June To purchase a strictly first-class roader or a trotter.

1918 Atlantic Monthly July 33/1 Her horse..a good roader as farm-horses go.

1959 W. Bird Maritimes vii. 195 I own two [horses], and one's a good enough roader.

1981 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 15 May 20 Gramp put a blanket on the roader, thus making a saddle horse, and I rode the roader to town.

1883 W. Besant All in Garden Fair ii. x Among the Roaders—that..useful body who sweep the roads for the omnibus horses.

1886 W. Besant Children of Gibeon I. ii. iv. 313 He began to drink, and then he had to be a roader for the parish at eighteenpence a day.

1900 Times 3 Nov. 15/5 Soon after the train left Blackfriars this parcel was thrown on to the engine, and some one shouted ‘Roader, see the guard’, meaning that the parcel was to be left on the road.

1902 Times 14 Feb. 13/3 He was informed by the engine-driver that a ‘roader’ (i.e., a parcel to be put out at a roadside station) had been put on the engine.

1939 H. Hodge Cab, Sir? ii. 28 It may be a long job—a ‘roader’ as we call it—out to Richmond or Highgate.

1978 London-Wide Radio Taxis (Licensed Taxi Drivers Assoc. Ltd.) [Publicity leaflet] p. iii/2 Roaders are an everyday event on radio. Put yourselves into the shoes of a director of a company who requires a taxi for a long distance haul... He rings for a cab.

1817 Sporting Mag. 50 231 This circumstance is of the greatest advantage to the spaniel; for it enables him to be a good roader, as it is styled in the south.

1867 L. Lloyd Game Birds & Wild Fowl Sweden & Norway (ed. 2) 45 At the season in question..the pointer is very available. But he should be steady..and not too wide a ranger. He ought, moreover, to be a good roader—that is, draw well on game.

1894 B. Waters Mod. Handling & Training 206 The dog cannot be called a good performer which cannot..road nearly as fast as the birds can run. Slow roading may be successful when they are lazy and indifferent, but when they become wild or restless..the slow roader becomes a very poor performer.