sightern.
/ˈsʌɪtə/, U.S. /ˈsaɪdər/ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > inspection, survey > [noun] > formal or official > person conducting
viewer1415
searcher1432
vesiar?a1500
vesiater1517
looker1552
vissier1566
inspector1602
sighter1708
roundsman1837
snooper1928
1708 in Hist. Regality of Musselburgh (1857) 22 The two present magistrates and sighters to be present at the cutting and selling.
2. In card-sharping: (see quot. 1894).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > card-sharping or cheating > [noun] > card or cards > mark on card
spur1674
sighter1894
1894 J. N. Maskelyne ‘Sharps & Flats’ 196 ‘Sighters’..are simply minute dots upon the faces of the cards.
3. A sighting shot in rifle or artillery shooting. Also transferred and figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > discharge of firearms > [noun] > a shot > type of shot
hail-shot1569
random shot1598
long shot1767
snapshot1808
point-blanker1824
pot-shot1843
snap1851
hip shot1874
pop shot1880
sighter1897
pot1914
over1915
short1922
snipe1969
1897 Times 23 July 8/1 Black, a sighter for tie shots, made 11 [bulls] in succession.
1899 Westm. Gaz. 24 July 4/3 They had..to fire three tie-shots off with a sighter allowed.
1920 G. S. Gordon Let. 17 Sept. (1943) 139 You were charming about my article... Richmond, in a brief post~card, called the thing a ‘bull's-eye’. I call it a sighter; and some day I shall have the second shot.
1960 Times 11 Apr. 3/7 An early sighter by Albaladejo gave some inkling of what was in store in the matter of dropped goals.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1708