towzer

See also: Towzer

English

Etymology

From towze +‎ -er.

Noun

towzer (plural towzers)

1. Alternative form of touser.
   • 1684, Tho[mas] Otway, “The Third Act”, in The Atheist: or, The Second Part of The Souldiers Fortune. […], London: […] R[ichard] Bentley, and J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 28:

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

   • 1899, H[enry] D[awson] Lowry, “[Samuel] Everdene’s Glossary”, 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, pages 96–97, column 1:

     Thee’s bin and brawk the bussa, and ’twas only yesterday thee’s took my new towzer to wipe the floor with when thee’s knacked the milk-jug ’pon the planchin. […] You call an apron a towzer, a pig’s-sty a pig’s-crow, and the cups and plates from which you eat and drink are so much clome. If the teachers will pardon me, I should like to say that you are perfectly right in using these words.

   • 2008, Jane Jackson, chapter 10, in Devil’s Prize, Long Preston, North Yorkshire: Magna Large Print Books, published 2009, →ISBN, page 192:

     ‘This ’ere’s a towzer,’ Lizzie Clemmow handed Jenefer a rough apron. ‘He’ll keep the worst off.’