Warrener

Forms: α. 3 warener, 4–5 waryner(e, warinar, 5 warenner, 6 warrennar, warryner, -eyner, -ainer, 6–7 war(r)iner, 7 warrenor, 7–8 warrenner, 6– warrener; Sc. and north. 5 warander, -dare, 6 warrander, varrandar, 9 (hist. and dial.) warrender; β. 4–6 warner, 5 -ere. [a. Northeastern OF. warrennier (= Central OF., mod.F. garennier), f. warenne (garenne) WARREN sb.]

  1.  a. An officer employed to watch over the game in a park or preserve. Obs. exc. Hist. b. A servant who has the charge of a rabbit-warren.

  In the earlier quots. the two applications of the word cannot be distinguished with certainty.

  α.  1297.  Placita coram Rege, m. 25 b (1897), 165. Thomam le Warener de Fakenham.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 159. Sesse þe souters wyf sat on þe Benche, Watte þe warinar [1377 warner, 1393, warynere] and his wyf boþe.

1467–8.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 609/2. Th’ office of Warenner, or kepyng of the Warenne.

1473.  Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879), I. 188. Tha sal gife twa akrys of land fre til our warander of our kunynȝare.

c. 1500.  trans. Charter Lond., in Arnolde, Chron. (1502), 6/2. Wythin whiche wareyn nether waryner ne forester nor Justice of our forest of her landis and wodes ne huntynge ne of repynge of her cornes entermet hem any thinge.

1551–2.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., X. 66. Item … to ane warrander send to Arrane to mak clapparttis for cunnynges, xl s.

1573–80.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 72. Get warrener bound to vermin thy ground.

1584.  Churchw. Acc. Pittington (Surtees), 17. Item given to the warrander for killinge of twoe foxes, xij^d.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., I. iv. 28. He hath fought with a Warrener.

1613.  Markham, Eng. Husbandman, II. II. iv. (1635), 59. We see Warriners and Poulters sell Rabbets, a fat, and a leane ever coupled together.

1643.  Prynne, Sov. Power Parl., III. 17. May a Forrester, Warrener, or Keeper of a Parke, lawfully beate and kill another in defence of his … game?

1680.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1560/4. William Hooker, Warriner and Servant to George Vernon of Sudbury.

1770.  G. White, Selborne, To Barrington, 12 April. Warreners observe … that their rabbits are never in such good case as in a gentle frost.

1800.  Hull Advertiser, 6 Dec., 1/2. The warren contains an ample breeding stock of rabbits…. The warrener upon the premises will shew the same.

1829.  T. Brown, Biogr. Sk. Dogs, 529. Warreners … make use of nux vomica as a poison, which is not unfrequently concealed in a piece of raw meat, to entice foumarts and weasels to eat it.

1835.  App. Munic. Corpor. Rep., III. 1714. [Among officers of Scarborough corporation] Warrener and Gamekeeper.

1877.  N. W. Linc. Gloss., s.v., My father was warrender at Thorganby when I was born.

  attrib.  1591.  Greene, Not. Discov. Coosnage, Wks. (Grosart), X. 32. A cony-catcher … what is he a wariner felow?

  β.  1377.  [see α].

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 517/1. Warnere, warinarius.

1485.  Rolls of Parlt., VI. 378/2. The Offices of Bailliff of the Manour and Lordshipp foren of Myche Marlowe,… and Warner, Wodward, [etc.].

a. 1500.  Tale K. Edw. & Sheph., in Hartshorne, Anc. Metr. T. (1829), 45. The warner is hardy and fell.

1503–4.  Act 19 Hen. VII., c. 10 § 7. The Office of Warner or Warnershipp of oure Waren of Methwolde.

  2.  One who owns or rents a warren.

1846.  J. Baxter’s Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), I. 335. Warreners are sometimes liable to great losses from an epidemical disorder among rabbits.

1856.  ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. I. vii. § 10. The sport of shooting rabbits is never carried on in the warrens, because the warrener does not wish his property wasted, and prefers trapping them.

1880.  Daily Tel., 27 Sept. Numerous parcels of ground let out formerly to warreners have been ploughed up.

  3.  A warren rabbit.

1864.  Peter Parley’s Ann., VII. 325. The warrener burrows underground, and has the most valuable fur.