a1652 I. Jones in B. Allsopp & R. A. Sayce Inigo Jones on Palladio (1970) II. iv. 38 This singell trayler doith well because of the distance.

1832 Ld. Tennyson Eleänore in Poems (new ed.) 27 Many a deephued bell-like flower Of fragrant trailers.

1870 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows 15 A pair of orioles built on the lowest trailer of a weeping elm.

1880 I. L. Bird Unbeaten Tracks Japan I. 173 An ocean of trees entangled with a beautiful trailer.

1882 Garden 11 Feb. 106/3 Mikania pulverulenta..is a pretty trailer.

1898 J. London Let. 6 Dec. (1966) 8 Sent out in this mail, ‘trailers’ after articles I mailed last September.

1941 H. G. Wells You can't be too Careful iii. i. 114 I join with Mrs Richard Tewler in deploring the inaudibility of Mrs Humbelay. If only we could have heard those lost trailers of hers, we might have benefited greatly from her..wisdom.

1952 G. Raverat Period Piece vi. 112 This remark was..a sort of trailer, which she hoped might lead to more information.

1928 N.Y. Times 11 Mar. viii. 6 A trailer, a few hundred feet of film announcing a forthcoming picture.

1930 Dancing Times July 360/2 In a ‘trailer’ advertising the film, it is announced that the producers have aimed more at entertainment than historical accuracy.

1941 B.B.C. Gloss. Broadcasting Terms 33 Trailer, microphone announcement or short descriptive broadcast, designed to advertise a forthcoming programme or other event of broadcasting importance.

1942 Punch 4 Mar. 169/1 The war..has only just started. The trailer will have given you an idea of what it will be like.

1959 New Statesman 21 Mar. 403/2 A quasi-newscaster, giving verbal trailers of coming attractions, does not fulfil this function.

1959 Washington Post 26 Dec. a19/2 Then some wisenheimer from the agency decided we needed a trailer.

1966 Listener 19 May 737/1 Whether there is much point in playing a section of a work, except as a trailer, is another matter.

1971 Daily Tel. 28 Jan. 1/1 Mr Barber, Chancellor of the Exchequer, used a lunch-time speech yesterday as a ‘trailer’ for the White Paper on Public Expenditure..which is to be published this afternoon.

1977 J. Aiken Last Movement i. 9 The evening's sunshine was only a trailer for spring.

1978 Radio Times 28 Jan. 70/1 Once upon a time, in the cinema of my youth, there were trailers—unblushingly commercial attempts to lure in the customers by juxtaposing all the dangerous and sexy bits of the film and overlaying them with the most blatant sales pitch of plots and star appeal.

1890 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 5 Aug. The line is to start with five motor cars for winter service, with some ‘trailers’ for excursion business.

1900 Engin. Mag. 19 737 By the adoption of a steam waggon and trailer, a full load of 5 tons being carried into Manchester twice a day.

1901 Scotsman 2 Mar. 12/5 The motor car, or motor car and trailer now so familiar in tramway practice.

1926 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 11 June On the Victory highway most any day now one may see the migratory harvesters—a few walking,..more with their families in cars, and a trailer behind, carrying tents, bedding, and cooking utensils.

1931 J. F. M. H. Stone Caravanning & Camping-out x. 64 These trailer-caravans are made so exceedingly light..that a low-power motor can draw them with ease. A trailer runs on two wheels or four.

1951 W. Faulkner Requiem for Nun 246 Living now (with now a wife..and..after that a wife and children) in automobile trailers or G.I. barracks on the outskirts of liberal arts colleges.

1966 Listener 9 June 839/3 The first motor-diesel vessel to carry caravans—or, as the Americans call them, trailers—across the ocean is now being designed here in San Francisco.

1976 New Yorker 17 May 31/1 The miniature control room of a big white mobile broadcast trailer.

1977 P. Way Super-Celeste i. 44 Family men from Sydney..on a fishing weekend—their wives..in the trailers in the park.

1909 Times 9 July 3/3 He was in a trailer attached to a motor-tricycle.

1954 Economist 13 Mar. 779/1 These ‘piggy-backs’ or ‘trailers-on-flat-cars (TOFC)’..have now become a major preoccupation of the railways.

1964 Economist 26 Sept. 1243/1 The [US] railways have introduced TOFC service—trailer-on-flatcar, better known as Piggyback.

1979 Railway Gaz. Internat. Aug. 719/2 Piggyback, otherwise known as trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC), has proved to be an area of strong..growth.

1941 Electronic Engin. 14 412 The ‘trailer’ film, interspersed with regular features, has been recognised by a number of manufacturers as a valuable advertising medium.

1930 Motor Body Building 51 98/1 There are, of course, already a considerable number of trailer caravans standardised by body builders specialising in this type of vehicle.

1979 W. H. Canaway Solid Gold Buddha xi. 77 The trailer..served him as living quarters and producer's office... He woke to find the trailer-caravan in darkness.

1953 C. Armstrong Catch-as-catch-can viii. 69 Do you understand how a trailer hitch operates?

1972 D. E. Westlake Bank Shot viii. 58 It has a trailer hitch... It doesn't have any wheels.

1904 Daily Chron. 12 May 3/3 The Act of 1896..limited the weight of a motor-car to three tons unladen, and of a motor with trailer-wagon to four tons.

1965 Observer 5 Sept. 36/1 French 1964 vintages..are already trailered in some American liquor stores as ‘the most heralded vintage of the century’.

1977 Time Out 28 Jan. 5/4 Originally scheduled for broadcast last April and ‘trailered’ on the air, it has never in fact been run.

1979 Internat. Jrnl. Sociol. of Law Feb. 99 The book is reminiscent of a Hollywood film, in the sense of its having been extensively trailered.

1983 Daily Tel. 27 Aug. 29/2 The Winds of War Preview, excerpts from the series which does not start for another fortnight and has already been heavily trailered.

1971 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 31 Jan. 7/2 For most of us, snowmobiling requires that we frequently trailer our machines from where we live to more suitable operating locales.

1976 Sea Spray (N.Z.) Dec. 55/3 Cover for a vessel while being trailered may be overlooked.

1977 Austral. Sailing Jan. 48/1 (advt.) A little ship like the Marieholm is easy to trailer.

1984 Gainesville (Florida) Sun 27 Mar. 6 b/1 An end to being trailered, to wearing halters, bridles, bits and saddles.

1974 Listener 17 Jan. 93/3 [They] give up trailering around and settle back near the old folks.

1975 Time Out 22 Aug. 3/3 Trailering with stuff like ‘The Leisure Press At Bay’.