swasher

English

Etymology

From swash +‎ -er.

Noun

swasher (plural swashers)

1. (obsolete) One who makes a blustering show of valour or force of arms.
   • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 78, column 1:

     As young as I am, I have obſeru'd theſe three Swaſhers: I am Boy to them all three, but all they three, though they would ſerue me, could not be Man to me; for indeed three ſuch Antiques do not amount to a man: [...]

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Loue of Learning; or Ouer-much Study. With a Digression of the Misery of Schollers, and Why the Muses are Melancholy.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 15, page 113:

     [I]f they keepe their wits, yet they are accompted fooles by reaſon of their carriage, becauſe they cannot ride a horſe, which euery Clowne can doe; ſalute and court a Gentlewoman, carue at table, cringe and make congies, which euery common ſwaſher can doe, [...]

Adjective

swasher

1. comparative form of swash: more swash

References

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

Anagrams

• Washers, hawsers, washers