aiger

aiger (plural aigers)

1. Alternative form of eagre; a tidal bore.
   • 2007, Nathan Redman, Bloodwork, →ISBN, page 167:

     Bores and aigers of gore and flame burst and pour from Hells, reified, Or Wounds, rather: Doom-gathered Kenosis unto Self-Deicide.

   • 1872, John Pincher Faunthorpe, The geography of Lincolnshire: for use in schools, page 9:

     The Trent is noted for a tidal phenomenon called the Eagre or Aiger. a species of bore like that which occurs on an enormous scale at the mouth of the Amazon.

   • 1876, Joshua Hatton, George Eliot in Derbyshire:

     Thirdly, in one part of the novel, though I cannot just now lay my hand on the passage, mention is made of the aiger, or tidal wave, coming up to St. Oggs.

   • 1892, Marmaduke Charles Frederick Morris, Yorkshire Folk-talk:

     The word aiger would hardly be heard except on a tidal river, but the cry wahr aiger raised by the boatmen when the approaching tidal wave is visible, is still common on the lower part of the river Ouse.

2. Alternative form of ague
   • 1947, Lynn Riggs, Four plays, page 162:

     Oh, I don't know what's come over me! Shakin' aigers or sump'n.

   • 1963, Stephen Warren Meader, The Muddy Road to Glory, page 110:

     When he felt the young man's forehead, it was very hot and his eyes were feverishly bright. “G-got the shakes,” Sam said through chattering teeth. “It's the f-fever an aiger.”

   • 1969, Wayne E. Kiefer, Rush County, Indiana: a study in rural settlement geography, page 40:

     As Newly relates, "In the very wet seasons there was so much swampy land covered with decaying vegetable matter that in the autumn it was one field of malaria or "fever an' aiger" as it was called.

aiger (comparative more aiger, superlative most aiger)

1. (archaic) Pronunciation spelling of eager.
   • 1884, Ballou's Monthly Magazine - Volume 59, page 81:

     I 'II be afther goin' out, now, till I find Micky, an' see if he 's afther aimin' any money wid his papers; but it 's small an' lame he is, an' aiger an' pushin' the other byes is, an' some nights il 's sorra the won paper that he 's afther selling.

   • 1888, Irish Wonders:

     Be this time half the town was ready an' aiger to go wid thim to the coort, an' so they did, an' in, wid the offishers thryin' to kape thim out, an' the wimmin shovin' in, an' all their frinds wid 'em, an' the shur'f callin' out 'Ordher in the coort,' an' the judge lookin' over his shpectacles at thim.

   • 1894, The Pall Mall Magazine - Volume 2, page 660:

     Maybe it was that Widdy Byrne only wanted to kape the pace wid all thim min crowdin' roun' her, an' thim clutchin' on tight to their shticks an' aiger for a fight wid any man on her account.

• Aegir, Argie, Gaier, aegir, aigre

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ˈeɪɡʌr/

aiger (comparative mair aiger, superlative maist aiger)

1. (Hawick dialect, archaic) eager.