balker

English

Etymology

From balk +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔːkə(ɹ)

Noun

balker (plural balkers)

1. Someone or something that balks; a naysayer.
2. (obsolete) A person who stands on a rock or eminence to observe shoals of herring, etc., and to give notice to the men in boats which way they pass.

   Synonyms: huer, conder

   • 1602, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall‎^[1], folio 34^r:

     The Pilcherd are pursued and deuoured by a bigger kinde of fish, called a Plusher, being somewhat like the Dog-fish, who leapeth now and then aboue water, and therethrough bewrayeth them to the Balker […]

   • 1845, William Thornber, Penny Stone; or, a Tradition of the Spanish Armada, page 32:

     “Ye are caught, master wizard,” cried Fleetwood, laughing; “the balkers have marked their fish, and we hold you as our prize.[”]

   • 1904, George Nicholls, A History of the English Poor Law […], 2nd edition, volume 1, page 218:

     For remedy whereof, and for the maintenance of the profitable trade of fishing, it is enacted that fishermen, balcors, huors, condors, guiders, etc., may enter lands near fishing-places to watch for and draw fish on shore, any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

Synonyms

• conder
• huer

Further reading

• “balker”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Blaker