fother meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

fother

noun

UK /ˈfɒðə/ · US /ˈfɑðɚ/

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.

Historical A load, a wagonload, especially any various English units of weight or volume based upon standardized cartloads of certain commodities.

Four fother of clod lime, and fifteen fothers of good manure, on each acre.1774-75, Act 14 Geo. III in Brand, Newcastle (1789) I, page 652
20 fothers of additional thickness in clay were thrown in.1813, “Misc.”, in Ann. Reg., 507/2:

2 more examples

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.1840, Tyne songster, The Tyne songster, a choice selection of songs in the Newcastle dialect, page 211:
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.1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 168:

Alternative, Dialectal Alternative form of fodder, food for animals.

He ripp'd the womb up of his mother, / Dame Tellus, 'cause he wanted fother, / And provender, wherewith to feed / Himself and his less cruel steed.1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 2:

Synonyms: cartload, load
Hyponyms: load

fother

verb

Dialectal To feed animals (with fother).

Nautical, Transport Dated To stop a leak with oakum or old rope (often by drawing a sail under the hull).