sb. Obs. exc. Hist. Also 5 waferare, -ere, 4–7 wafrer, waffrer. [a. AF. wafrer, f. wafre WAFER sb. Cf. AL. waferarius.] A maker or seller of wafers or thin cakes.
The itinerant wafer-sellers of both sexes had the repute of being ready to act as intermediaries in amatory intrigues. Cf. WAFER-woman, WAFRESTRE. In royal and other great households there were one or more ‘waferers,’ whose duties probably included the making of confectionery in general.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. VI. 120. ‘I-wis,’ quaþ a waferer,’ wust I þis for soþe, Schulde I neuere forþere a fote for no freres prechinge.’ Ibid. (1393), C. XVI. 199. Mynstralcie can ich nat muche, bote make men murye, As a waffrer with waffres.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 12. Ȝif þei [the religious] ben made wafreris, ȝeuynge lordes, ladies and riche men a fewe peris, appelis or nottis to haue huge ȝiftis to þe couent, euyl þei coueiten here neȝeboris goodis.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pard. T., 151. Syngeres with harpes, Baudes, wafereres.
a. 1483. Liber Niger, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 72. Offyce of Wafere[r]s, hathe one yoman making wafyrs.
c. 1515. Cocke Lorell’s B., 9. Yermongers, py-bakers, and waferers.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshman (Percy Soc.), 2. Fyrste was he hosteler, and than a wafrer.
1679–88. Moneys Secr. Serv. Chas. II. & Jas. II. (Camden), 107. To William Clopton, in lieu of all fees claimed by him as waferer to his said Majestie on the day of the coronation 30 0 0.
1861. Our Engl. Home, 70. The brilliancy of a mediæval feast was chiefly due to the ingenuity of the waferers, or confectioners.
So † wafrestre [-estre, -STER], a female waferer.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 641. ‘Wite god,’ quod a wafrestre [A text waferere], ‘wist I þis for sothe, Shulde I neuere ferthere a fote, for no freres prechynge.’
