towser

See also: Towser

English

Etymology

From towse +‎ -er.

Noun

towser (plural towsers)

1. Alternative form of touser.
   • 1768 [1684], Thomas Otway, “The Atheist; or, The Second Part of the Soldier’s Fortune”, in The Works of Mr. Thomas Otway, volume II ([…]), London: […] C[harles] Bathurst, T[homas] Waller, J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC, act III, scene i, page 326:

     ’Tis pain to tell thee the Life I lead with him. He’s colder to me, than Adamant to Fire; but let him looſe among my Kitchen-Furniture, my Maids, never was ſeen ſo termagant a Towſer: He loves a naſty, foul-fed, fulſome Drab, and ſcorns the tender Joys my Arms invite him to.

     A posthumous edition; Towzer in the 1st edition (1684).

   • 1894 [1892], S[abine] Baring Gould, “The Dancing Bear”, in Kitty Alone: A Story of Three Fires […], volume I, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 153:

     “Heigh!” yelled Noah; “go it, Towser!” / “Is dat your dogue?” shouted the bearward. / “No, not mine,” answered Noah. “He looks a towser, that’s why I called him so. Go it, Towser!”

     Capitalized in the serialized edition published in Good Words (1892).

   • 1899, “Billy Bray on Drink and Tobacco”, in A[rthur] T[homas] Quiller-Couch, editor, The Cornish Magazine, volume II, Truro, Cornwall: Joseph Pollard; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd., →OCLC, page 160, column 1:

     Now I tell ’ee, dearly beloved, ’tedn’ no use to try and cure a drunkard by moderation: you might so well tie up a towser (apron) in the gap to keep the old sow out of the tatties.

   • 1901, Eden Phillpotts, “Told to Chaplain”, in The Striking Hours, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 222:

     A wonnerful bowerly maid her was, an’ a towser for work, an’ ’mazin’ even-tempered tu.

   • 1926 December 2, Zamzam [pseudonym], “Shin Din Din. (The Hero of the Movies.)”, in The Springfield Union, volume LXIII, number 334, Springfield, Mass., published 3 December 1926, →OCLC, “On the Firing Line” section (by R. P. M. [pseudonym]), page 12, column 4:

     Shin Din Din—great, lion-hearted towser that he is—stands chattering his teeth and regarding her; his mind divided between sympathy for her and the smoldering hatred for his old and reliable enemy, the grey wolf.

   • 2006, Gloria Cook, chapter 5, in Keeping Echoes, Sutton, London; New York, N.Y.: Severn House Publishers, →ISBN, page 37:

     The wind and rain up on the high ground of the Carn Croft Mine was sharp and relentless and penetrated Sarah Hichens’ hand-me-down, calf-length dress, petticoat, shawl and hessian towser apron and bit into her flesh, adding more misery to her hard life.