rousern.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Esveilleur,..a rowser, a raiser from sleepe.

1612 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes Don-Quixote: Pt. 1 i. iii. vi All this which I have depainted to thee, are inciters and rowsers of my mind.

1725 J. Sedgwick New Treat. Liquors xiv. 259 While in others, gentle Rincings are but trifling, and ineffectual, they command more powerful Rousers, than Quantities of Water.

1783 J. Young Crit. Gray's Elegy 23 The Rousers to morning labour are also enumerated as four.

1801 W. Scott Glenfinlas in M. G. Lewis Tales of Wonder I. 130 Within an hour return'd each hound, In rush'd the rouzers of the deer.

1827 S. B. H. Judah Buccaneers II. iii. ii. 60 He had..surrounded those discordant rousers of rebellion at a moment when they had expected they were in the full tide of success.

1898 P. Manson Trop. Dis. xii. 212 A fine stream of iced water poured on the forehead from an elevation will act as a stimulant and rouser.

1913 Pedagogical Seminar Dec. 437 Terms used are repressive and euphemistic... A drink is a morning rouser, a reposer, a sparkler, a rinse.

1951 W. C. Williams Autobiogr. i. 4 He was a grand rouser of a child's imagination.

1998 Speculum 73 314 Irish writers..present the speaker as a ‘rouser’.

1765 H. Jackson Ess. Brit. Isinglass 56 Previous to cleansing, conquassate the whole Aggregate with a Rouser.

1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. I. vi. 165 A vertical rod plunges down the copper... This rod terminates in a horizontal bar, carrying an extended chain, called, on account of its duty, a rouser. The rod and rouser are both kept in continual motion.

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 585 The inter-mixture may be effected either by lading the glass out of one pot into another..or by stirring it up with a rouser.

1854 E. Ronalds & T. Richardson Knapp's Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 287 The contents can be constantly agitated by the rouser.

1897 W. J. Sykes Princ. & Pract. Brewing ii. v. 358 The rouser is then set in motion and the yeast well mixed in.

1907 Pulp & Paper Mag. of Canada Jan. 55/1 The process goes on with perfect smoothness, which cannot be the case if the rouser blades come into contact with entangled masses.

1959 P. Mathias Brewing Industry in Eng., 1700–1830 i. iii. 73 A view to reducing labour costs or the number of horses—with which..mashing machines, ‘rousers’ and conveyor devices had been concerned.

2004 D. E. Briggs et al. Brewing xiv. 523 Mechanical rousers are in use in several breweries but they are difficult to maintain.

a1713 Grobiana's Nuptialls (MS Bodl. 30) f. 16^v It [sc. a fart] was a rowser and was heard up into upper house.

1763 Yorks. Medley 31 As the cold Water, and what she had drank, fill'd her with Wind, she soon after let a Rouser just under his Nose.

1799 P. Spindleshanks Battle Two Taylors 12 He let a mighty rouser fly.

1980 D. Parmée tr. E. Zola Earth iii. 314 Suddenly rediscovering his lost youth, he raised his buttock and let off a rouser.

1820 Mrs. Purcell Orientalist I. 361 There is a rouser—sing that my hearty.

1872 M. S. De Vere Americanisms 225 The rouser is..a man who talks very loud and occasionally yells.

1908 Technol. Rev. 10 184 Fifty-seven members and two guests..sat around the board, and gave many a rouser before the evening's festivities were over.

1967 Life 11 Aug. 30/3 He grumped..about the modernistic and discordant hymns they had sung. He wanted the old rousers.

1990 W. A. Smith Myst. Leopold Stokowski 171 Programming with a further admixture of good soloists,..plus at least one rouser or ‘Big Noise’ piece.

?1770 Miss Catley & Miss Weiwitzer’s New London & Dublin Song-bk. 75 With simpering grin, and haughty stride, And lies, that, faith, were rousers.

1832 Bouquet 21 Mar. 170/1 Maybe it's a rouser, out an' out; so I'll say no more about it.

1873 C. G. Leland Egyptian Sketch-bk. 176 I like a man to tell a rouser while he is about it.

1824 J. Mactaggart Sc. Gallovidian Encycl. 49 The size of it [sc. Barr's cat] became proverbial all over the country, and every thing larger than it should be, was said to be a rouser, like Barr's Cat.

1868 Putnam's Mag. Jan. 70 He's a rouser to make punch, I assure you.

1895 Cornhill Mag. Dec. 578 For a' the leers in the pairish—and there are some rousers—ye beat them clean.

1907 Photogr. Times July 329/2 Everything has been done to make the meeting a rouser.

1922 Forest & Stream Aug. 364/3 An old rouser of a big woods-rabbit got up about thirty yards ahead.

1968 N.Y. Mag. 29 Apr. 27/1 Techniques aside, it was a rouser of a campaign.

1999 H. M. Albright & M. A. Schenk Creating National Park Service v. 52 Then I joined the gang at the Sigma Chi house. It was a real rouser.