Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
fother. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
fother, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
fother in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
fother you have here. The definition of the word
fother will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
fother, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English fother, fothir, from Old Norse fóðr (cognate to Old English fōdor), from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą (compare Dutch voer (“pasture, fodder”), German Futter (“feed”), Swedish foder). Doublet of fodder and foeder. More at food.
Pronunciation
Noun
fother (countable and uncountable, plural fothers)
- (historical) A load, a wagonload, especially any various English units of weight or volume based upon standardized cartloads of certain commodities.
- 1774-75, Act 14 Geo. III in Brand, Newcastle (1789) I, page 652:
- Four fother of clod lime, and fifteen fothers of good manure, on each acre.
1813, “Misc.”, in Ann. Reg., 507/2:20 fothers of additional thickness in clay were thrown in.
1840, Tyne songster, The Tyne songster, a choice selection of songs in the Newcastle dialect, page 211:Where the brass hez a' cum fra nebody can tell, / Some says yen thing and some says another - / But whe ever lent Grainger't aw knaw very well, / That they mun have at least had a fother.
1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 168:Now measured by the old hundred, that is, 108 lbs. the charrus contains nearly 19½ hundreds, that is it corresponds to the fodder, or fother, of modern times.
- (dialect) Alternative form of fodder, food for animals.
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Verb
fother (third-person singular simple present fothers, present participle fothering, simple past and past participle fothered)
- (dialect) To feed animals (with fother).
- (dated, nautical) To stop a leak with oakum or old rope (often by drawing a sail under the hull).
References
- Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
- Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “FOTHER”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: , volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, , publisher to the English Dialect Society, ; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Middle English
- foður, fothir, fothyr, futher, fodyr, fooder, foþer, foþere, foðer, voðer, ffoder
Etymology
From Old Norse fóðr, from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą. Doublet of fodder.
Pronunciation
Noun
fother (plural fothres)
- wagonload (that which fits in a wagon)
- a wildly inconsistent measure of weight primarily used for lead.
- a great quantity, especially a load or of people.
Descendants
References