Forms: α. 1, 3 weðer, 3–4 weþer, 4–5 wethur, -ir, 5 wethyr, -ire, 6 wethar, 6–9 weather, 4– wether; 4–5 whethir, -ur, 4–6 whether, 5 whetther. β. 4, 6 weder, wedir, 5 wedyr, wedor; 5–9 wedder (5 -ur, -yr); Sc. 5–6 vedder, weddir, 6 wadder, wodder, weadder. [Common Teutonic: OE. weðer = OFris. *wether (NFris. wether, WFris. weer), OLFrank. wither (MDu. weder, Du. weer), OS. withar, -er (MLG. weder, wêr, LG. weer), OHG. widar, -er, -ir (MHG. wider, G. widder), ON. and Icel. veðr (Norw. veder, ver; MSw. vāþur, wädhur, etc., Sw. vādur, Da. væder), Goth. wiþrus (= lamb), prob. related to L. vitulus calf.]
1. A male sheep, a ram; esp. a castrated ram. See also BELL-WETHER.
α. c. 890. Wærferth, trans. Gregory’s Dial., 34. He breac on þam hælftre for bridelse & weþera fella for sadole.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 576. His biʓleofa wæs ælce dæʓ … hundteontiʓ weðera.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3998. On ilc alter fier alðerneðer, And ðoron an calf and a weðer.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 1210. Vourti þousend of ruþeren he let quelle þer to, & of fatte weþeren an hondred þousend al so.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11649. Wolf and weþer, leon and ox, Sal comen samen, and lamb and fox.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xxx. 35. And he seuerde that day the she geyt, and the sheep, and the hyeȝ geyt, and the wetheres.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VIII. x. (1495), 310. As a whetther in lyenge vpon oo syde tornyth and chaungyth by egall tymes.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb.), 81. Ysaac … was delyvred fro dede And a wethire cleving in breres sacrified in his stede.
1533. in Weaver, Wells Wills (1890), 2. John Horley oon whether,… ii. yewes.
1588. Lambarde, Eiren., Precedents (1591), Y y j b. Tres oues castratas (anglicè vocatas Weathers).
a. 1589. Mascall, Cattle, Sheep (1596), 236. In some places they doe … point the wethers, the yeaws, and the lambes ech by themselues.
1599. Shaks., etc., Pass. Pilgr., 272. My weathers bell rings dolefull knell.
1616. W. Browne, Brit. Past., II. iv. 95. The Weathers bell that leads our flocke around.
1671. Milton, Samson, 538. Who shore me Like a tame Weather, all my precious fleece.
1676. Lond. Gaz., No. 1122/4. Lost or stolen … 45 Sheep, called Western Weathers.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 409. Some mingling stir the melted tar…; Others the unwilling wether drag along.
1747. Smollett, Reproof, 71. All senior members of the horned race.—The weather, goat, ram, elk and ox were there.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., II. 343. Two pigs, a cow, and wethers half a score, Increased his stock.
1861. Times, 7 Oct., 8/4. For wethers the average prices obtained were 38s. to 56s., and best lots from 60s. to 63s.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, XII. 541. As when a shepherd carries home with ease A wether’s fleece.
β. a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter lxiv. 14. Cled ere wedirs of shepe.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VII. 115. And ane of thame apon his hals A mekill bundyn weddir bare. Ibid., 152. Thai slew the veddir at thai bar.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, III. 127. Daniel seiȝ þe fifte siȝt and visioun of þe weder þat hadde hornes nouȝt al i-liche.
c. 1425. Non-Cycle Mystery Plays (1909), 33. Turn þe & take þat wedyr there, & sacrifye hym on þat awtere.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 290. At ans he wolde ete a quarter of a weddur, or ij hennys, or a guse.
1479. Bury Wills (Camden), 53. And also the same Edmund haue cccc weders in my flokke of Ryngmer.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 53. It is than best tyme to … seuer theym in dyuers sortes,… the lambes by theym-selfe, wedders and the rammes by them-self.
1552. Lyndesay, Monarche, 5443. Quhat holynes is thare within Ane wolf cled in ane Wodderis skin?
a. 1585. Montgomerie, Flyting, 205. Fore store of lambes and lang-tailde wedders.
c. 1610. Sir J. Melville, Mem. (Bannatyne Club), 382. Bot some yearly nomber of wethers wilbe easely granted, be them that possess presently the saidis stoir rowmes.
1681. Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 85. Two three beggars,… Who stealing public geese and wedders, Were freed, by rendering skin and feathers.
1796. W. Marshall, West Eng., I. 263. The wedders, of the best sort, fat perfectly well, at two years old.
1830. Cumb. Farm. Rep., 55, in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb., III. Sheep generally fed off by turnips are the best description of Cheviot wedders.
1861. Times, 16 Oct., 8/3. Wedders commonly clip 71/2lb. of wool, a very good average being 81/2lb. to 9lb.
1888. J. Inglis, Tent Life Tigerland, 96. What might be the price of wedders now in Australy?
b. transf. of a man; spec. a eunuch.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII. (1550), 187 b. So the great wether which is of late fallen … so craftely, so scabedly, ye & so vntruly iuggled wyth the kynge, that [etc.].
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., IV. i. 114. I am a tainted Weather of the flocke, Meetest for death.
1724. Gay, Captives, Epil. 19. But the soft voice of an Italian weather, Makes them all languish three whole hours together.
† 2. Occasional uses. a. A battering ram. b. The zodiacal sign of the Ram.
14[?]. MS. Digby 233, lf. 182/1. As þe instrument þat hatte þe wether smyteþ þe walles of a cyte þat is byseged.
1565. Googe, trans. Palingenius’ Zodiac, XI. PP vij. The other by the Balance runnes, and by the Wethers face.
3. Grey wethers: boulders of hard sandstone found lying on the surface of the Downs in Wiltshire and Devonshire.
1661. J. Childrey, Brit. Baconica, 49. Upon the Downs between Marleborough and Aubury … are to be found abundance of great stones, commonly called by the Country thereabout, the Gray Weathers.
1681. Grew, Musæum, III. 291. A course sort of Jasper Stones, knockt off from those in Wilts-shire near Marleborough, called The Grey-Weathers.
1743. Stukeley, Abury, 48. An infinite quantity of immense stones, or sarsens, or gray-weathers.
1801. H. Skrine, Rivers Gt. Brit., 331. Those vast stones called ‘The Grey Withers [sic],’ are scattered irregularly about the country.
1835–95. [see GREY a. 8].
4. Comm. The fleece obtained from the second or any subsequent shearing of a sheep.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 260/1. (Wool) To good, healthy, sound fleeces more than one year old the term ‘wethers’ is given.
1895. Agric. Gaz., 17 June, 538/3. Super-super wethers, 91/2d.;… selected Yorkshire wethers, 73/4d.; deep wethers, 9d.
5. attrib. and Comb., as wether fleece, -flock, haggis, -mutton, -skin; wedderbouk Sc., the carcass of a wether; wether-gammon, a leg of mutton; † wether gang Sc., a pasture or right of pasturage for wethers (see GANG sb.1 4 c); wether-getter, a ram kept for breeding wethers; † wether goat, a castrated goat; wether head, a sheep’s head; fig. a stupid person; wether hog, a male sheep (castrated or not) before its first shearing; also wether hog sheep (cf. HOG sb.1 4); chiefly Sc. and north.; wether lamb, a male lamb; † wether-silver Sc., money in lieu of a wether paid as a customary rent or tax; wether teg = wether hog. Also WETHER SHEEP.
15[?]. Aberd. Reg. (Jam.). ijs Scottis for half ane *wedderbouk.
1422. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret. (1898), 163. Pelleus … Sende … Iason … into the Ile of Calcos to wyn the *wethyr fleis of golde.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 321. In favour rather of keeping a *weather-flock than an ewe-flock on the hill-country.
1886. C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 31. Wedder flocks are generally kept on the highest hirsel of the farm.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xi. The wether flock which had been lost.
a. 1774. Fergusson, Poems, Drink Eclogue, 84. Wi’ skelps like this fock sit but seenil down To *wether-gammon.
1561. in Dunfermline Reg. (Bannatyne Club), 427. Item the bouplaces and *wedder gangis within the parrochin of Dunfermling, lxxxxvj. li.
1609. in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1610, 154/1. Cum pastura super Pidmidle et lie Weddergang earundem.
1790. W. Marshall, Midland Co., I. 422. The characteristic difference between what is called a ‘ramgetter,’ and a ‘weddergetter’ or a ‘good grazier’s sheep.’
1671. T. Hunt, Abeced. Scholast., 52. Caper, a *Weather-Goat.
1772. Nugent, Hist. Friar Gerund, I. 35. To drub this Signior Barbi-castron, this false-bearded wether-goat.
1789. Burns, ‘Ken ye ought,’ 8. Is he slain by Highlan’ bodies?… And eaten like a *wether haggis? Ibid. (a. 1796), Grace bef. Dinner. And send us from thy bounteous store A tup or *weather head!
1869. Le Fanu, Wyvern Myst., II. 102. Why didn’t ye tell me, ye d——d wetherhead?
1537. N. C. Wills (Surtees, 1908), 103. I geve unto … John half a hundreth of share *wedder hogges.
1541. in Gage, Hengrave (1822), 118. Item, lix wether hogs shepe at xiiijd. the pece.
1614, 1794. [see HOG sb.1 4 b].
1776. Compl. Grazier (ed. 4), 149. So of the male sheep, we may reckon them wedder or wedder hogs, after they are … of a year’s growth.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 38. [In Scotland] a female is called a ewe-hogg, a male a tup-hogg, and a castrated male a wether-hogg.
c. 1475. Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 758/12. Hic agnus, a *wedyrlombe.
1595. Nottingham Rec., IV. 62. Unus agniculus (Anglice ‘a wether lambe’).
1801. Farmer’s Mag., Aug., 360. Wedder lambs … are selling from 10s. to 12s. and 13s. per head.
1815. Sporting Mag., XLV. 227. She … gave me a detail of their management in buying their wether lambs and fattening their wethers.
1886. C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 115. The best ewe lambs … are retained, and all the wether and the second ewe lambs are sent to the market.
1707. J. Stevens, trans. Quevedo’s Com. Wks. (1709), 171. She never dress’d *Weather-Mutton, when she could get Ewe or Goat.
1824. in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1825), 281. Does Mr. Giblet, the butcher, reserve his … weather-mutton for better customers?
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 100. Wether-mutton is the meat in perfection.
1557. in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1598, 223/1. Custum-mert-sylver, custum-*wadder-silver.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems, ii. 128. Bettir we bath wer byand hyddis And *weddir skynnis at hame.
1917. Blackw. Mag., Nov., 676/2. [temp. 1750–90] Wood and wedder-skins and grain packed for export to the South.
1550. in Phillipps, Wills (c. 1830), 180. Forty *Wether Teggs.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 39. In England … sheep bear the name of lamb until 8 months old, after which they are called ewe and wether teggs until once clipped.
