1859 Yale Lit. Mag. Feb. 160 By austere regulations it refuses all College Roomers, the luxury of boarding according to the dictates of conscience, each in his own cloistered den.

1871 L. H. Bagg Four Years at Yale 46 Roomer, a word used by landladies to designate a lodger or occupant of a room who takes his meals elsewhere.

1887 Ohio State Jrnl. 2 Sept. Complaint had been made by some of the roomers in the Mithoff block.

1905 ‘O. Henry’ in N.Y. World Mag. 20 Aug. 4/2 There was rejoicing among the gentlemen roomers whenever Miss Leeson had time to sit on the steps.

1919 Studies 8 304 There is no ‘board’ provided, but simply a room... A ‘roomer’ has all the perfect liberty of a latchkey... She can entertain what visitors she likes in her own room.

1939 Sun (Baltimore) 6 Jan. 1/2 Held with Joseph Malone, 27, as a material witness was Elizabeth Gelula, 23,..a third-floor roomer.

1959 M. Chamberlin Dear Friends & Darling Romans v. 50 There were, besides me, two other roomers in the apartment.

1976 National Observer (U.S.) 25 Sept. 8/2 A roomer who had been helping to install some additional bathrooms was heating wax on a hot plate in his room.

2000 Perspectives in Vernacular Archit. 8 224/1 Rooming houses also gave roomers greater personal freedom to come and go as they pleased and entertain in their rooms whomever they wished.