fother

== English == === 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. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɒðə/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɑðɚ/ === Noun === fother (countable and uncountable, plural fothers) (historical) A load, a wagonload, especially any various English units of weight or volume based upon standardized cartloads of certain commodities. 1774-75, Act 14 Geo. III in Brand, Newcastle (1789) I, page 652: Four fother of clod lime, and fifteen fothers of good manure, on each acre. (dialect) Alternative form of fodder, food for animals. ==== Synonyms ==== see cartload, load ==== Hyponyms ==== see load === Verb === fother (third-person singular simple present fothers, present participle fothering, simple past and past participle fothered) (dialect) To feed animals (with fother). (dated, nautical) To stop a leak with oakum or old rope (often by drawing a sail under the hull). === References === James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Fother”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC. Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “FOTHER”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC. === Anagrams === forthe, therof == Middle English == === Alternative forms === foður, fothir, fothyr, futher, fodyr, fooder, foþer, foþere, foðer, voðer, ffoder === Etymology === From Old Norse fóðr, from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą. Doublet of fodder. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈfoːðər/ === Noun === fother (plural fothres) wagonload (that which fits in a wagon) a wildly inconsistent measure of weight primarily used for lead. a great quantity, especially a load or of people. ==== Descendants ==== English: fother Scots: fother ==== References ==== “fọ̄ther, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 18 May 2018.