botchern.1
/ˈbɒtʃə/, U.S. /ˈbɑtʃər/ 1. A person who performs a task badly, or produces poor or clumsy work; an unskilful worker; an incompetent maker or deviser (of a thing); a bungler. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [noun] > unskilful action or working > person
blundererc1440
blunt-workerc1440
botcher1440
bumblerc1530
bungler1533
haggler1577
bumbiea1585
tool1699
screw-up1944
foul-up1945
fuck-upc1945
omnishambles2009
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 42 Bochchare or vn-crafty [1499 Pynson botchar], iners.
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius iii. f. 288 This Pope Boniface ye botcher of ye Decretalls.
1657 J. Trapp Comm. Ezra (Job xiii. 4) 120 Ye are not onely..forgers, but..botchers.
1700 W. Congreve Way of World v. i. 72 To become a botcher of second hand Marriages.
1786 Pedantic Hypocrite Exposed 32 Such clumsy Patch-Work by a Botcher made, Bespeaks an arrant Bungler in the Trade.
1839 Bentley's Miscell. May 470 With such materials [sc. food ingredients] to work upon, he..must be a botcher indeed who could fail to tickle the palate of the most fastidious.
1885 R. Bridges Nero ii. i. 8/1 Thou miserable, painful, hackney-themed Botcher of tragedies.
1917 A. Cahan Rise of David Levinsky (1993) vii. iii. 157 Joe criticized my work severely, often calling me botcher.
1938 Shakespeare Assoc. Bull. 13 155 He has presented no cogent reason for thinking that this early play of Shakspere's had been revised by a theatrical botcher.
2008 J. Wilson My Sister Jodie (2009) i. 18 I'm a bit of a botcher when it comes to plumbing or painting.
2.
a. † (a) A person whose occupation is mending shoes; a cobbler. Obsolete (archaic in later use).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > making footwear > [noun] > processes involved in > repairing or renovating > one who
souterc1000
cobbler1362
botcherc1480
cozier1532
translator1594
underlayer1692
snob1785
snab1797
botch1855
clobberer1864
snobber1900
c1480 (a1400) St. Mark l. 78 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 241 He..saw a bochour mend al[d] schone, & gef hyme his scho for to mend.
1610 A. Cooke Pope Ioane 76 That Iohn the 22. was filius veteramentarij, resarcitoris videlicet sotelarium. That is, the sonne of a Botcher.
1705 J. Stevens tr. ‘A. Fernández de Avellaneda’ Contin. Don Quixote i. iii. 15 Remendon in Spanish is a Botcher or Cobler.
1796 J. Ebers New & Compl. Dict. German & Eng. Lang. I. 99/2 Der Altflicker, a Cobler, a Botcher.
1840 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 519/1 The he-porter is a cobbler, a botcher, or a blacker of shoes.
1923 E. P. Mathers tr. J. C. Mardrus Bk. of Thousand Nights & One Night XVI. cmlxi. 26 The cobbler tried to placate her..but she..answered: ‘Begone with it, O dog of botchers!’
(b) A tailor who carries out repairs, as opposed to one who makes new clothing. Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > [noun] > carrying out specific processes > repairing or renovating > one who > tailor
botcher1530
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement iii. f. xxi/1 Botcher of old garmentis, rauavdevr.
1590 R. Harvey Plaine Percevall sig. C3v There is a Shomaker, there is a Cobler: a Tailor, and a Botcher.
1605 S. Rowlands Hell's broke Loose sig. B3v Hendrick the Botcher, cease from heeling Hose.
1663 R. Baxter Divine Life i. v. 31 A sorry Taylor may make a Botcher, or a bad Shoomaker may make a Cobler.
1744 R. North & M. North Life Sir D. North & Rev. J. North 61 Like a Botcher in a Paltry Hut, sate cross-leg'd.
1783 W. Cowper Let. 23 Sept. (1981) II. 162 Though but a Botcher which is somewhat less than a Taylor.
1833 T. Carlyle Let. 18 Nov. in J. A. Froude T. Carlyle: First Forty Years (1882) II. xvi. 305 Beeswax and other tailor or botcher apparatus on a little table, the shell of an old coat lying dismembered on the floor.
1841 F. Marryat Joseph Rushbrook II. vii. 140 I had to examine all their..trousers, and hold weekly conversation with the botcher, as to the possibility of repairs.
1924 C. W. Camp Artisan in Elizabethan Lit. ii. 72 In The Weakest Goeth to the Wall..is depicted a botcher, Barnabie Bunch.
2007 E. Cockayne Hubbub iii. 78 Clothes could be taken to a botcher, or botching tailor, for patching and repair.
b. More generally: a person who mends or repairs things. Also figurative. Now somewhat rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > mender > [noun]
clouterc1440
maker-up?a1444
botcher1499
repairer?1504
reparationer1520
patcher1528
bodger1538
repareller1546
mender1552
sarcinator1646
vamper1712
piecer1764
renovator1827
repairman1856
fixer?1881
serviceman1905
Mr Fixit1924
fixit man1949
fixit1982
1499 Promptorium Parvulorum (Pynson) sig. biiv/1 Botchare of olde thinges, resartor.
1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. L3 The veriest botcher, tinker or cobler freeborne wil dominere ouer a forreiner.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues sig. Vuu vv/1 Rataconneur, a patcher, botcher, cobler.
1629 J. Ford Lovers Melancholy i. 13 Physicions are the bodies Coblers, rather the Botchers of mens bodies.
1751 ‘F. Foot’ Nut-cracker Pref. p. xi Mr Carp, the Critic, sent me a Botcher to mend my Work, a snarling Puppy!
1842 C. Whitehead Richard Savage I. iii. 51 A botcher of boots and shoes.
1883 Antiquarian Mag. 3 228 Cobbler in old times meant generally a mender or ‘botcher’.
1957 Delaware Folklore Bull. Oct. 28/2 A good botcher (i.e., patcher-up of leaks, etc.).
2003 D. Lawrenson Art of Falling (2005) iv. 48 Menders and botchers of the machinery of war, patchers-up of equipment and shelter.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > defrauding or swindling > [noun] > of a company, etc. > one who
botcher?1518
broker?1518
jobber1739
union jobber1832
fraudster1975
?1518 A. Barclay tr. D. Mancinus Myrrour Good Maners sig. Hvi Be no toller, catchepoll, nor customer No broker nor botcher, no somner nor sergiaunt..The most of this nomber lyueth..by fraudes and by pollyng.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
botchern.2
/ˈbɒtʃə/, U.S. /ˈbɑtʃər/ Chiefly English regional (south-west midlands). Now rare.
A young salmon, esp. a grilse.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Salmoniformes (salmon or trout) > family Salmonidae (salmon) > [noun] > genus Salmo > salmo salar (salmon) > on return from sea or in first year
grilse1417
peal1533
botchera1609
blue cap1677
grey1677
pug peal1861
grayling1879
a1609 J. Dennys Secrets of Angling (1613) ii. sig. D2 The Bocher sweet, the pleasant Flounder thin.
a1641 J. Smyth Berkeley MSS (1885) III. 319 The salmon growes by theis degrees and ages: vz. 1 a pinke; 2 a botcher; 3 a salmon trout; 4 a gillinge; 5 a salmon.
1783 S. Moreau Tour to Cheltenham Spa 92 The Severn, besides the salmon it produces in great plenty and truly excellent, has the..the elver, also the botchers or salmon peel.
1801 T. Selwyn MS Let. to A. Selwyn We have Salmon and we have botcher If the fisher man chance to cotch her.
1875 Times 26 Aug. Formerly grilse, or botchers, were far more plentiful than they have been.
1906 A. W. Rees in Monthly Rev. 21 I've never hooked a big fish, though I've caught a botcher.
1918 J. A. Hutton Life-Hist. Wye Salmon 16 It was supposed that after staying there a few months they return to the river in the same year as ‘Grilse’ or to use the rather ugly local name as ‘Botchers’.
1948 Citizen (Gloucester) 25 May 5/6 There were more salmon in the river in 1947 than there have been for many years... The total catch of salmon, gillings, and botchers in 1947 was 3,126, compared with 3,313 in 1946.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.11440n.2a1609