[f. WAY sb.1 + FARER. Cf. WAYFERER.] A traveller by road, esp. one who journeys on foot.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 520/1. Weyfarere, viator, viatrix.
1514. Barclay, Eglog, iii. (1570), B vj b. Iugglers and pipers, and scuruy wayfarers.
1551. T. Wilson, Logic, 43. The wayfairer shall not (or very hardly) come to his journeies ende, except he haue some money in his purse.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, I. 66. But in stead of remedy, they receyued in answere, that neither such an outcorner was frequented with many wayfarers, nor by hanging out signes … did they inuite any.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Streets—Night. Savoury steams of hot dinners salute the nostrils of the hungry wayfarer, as he plods wearily by the area railings.
1858. Chr. G. Rossetti, Poems, Up-hill, 9.
| Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? | |
| Those who have gone before. | |
| Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? | |
| They will not keep you standing at that door. |
1896. Conan Doyle, Exploits Gerard, vi. 217. There were few wayfarers between there and Greiz.
b. Wayfarer’s-tree, the hobble-bush. U.S.
1858. [see HOBBLE-BUSH].
