[f. WING sb. + -ER1.]
1. Naut. A small cask or tank stowed in the wing of a ship’s hold (WING sb. 9 b (a)).
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, II. 286. The sides are filled-in with wingers of [? or] small casks.
1815. Burney, Falconer’s Dict. Marine.
2. Football. A player in the (right or left) wing; in the Rugby game, a forward whose place is on the ‘wing’ in the back row of the scrum.
1896. Bootle Times, 18 Jan., 3/2. Dow making pretty headway and then passing to the left winger.
1903. P. Trevor, R. U. Football, 44. The danger … is that a race of mere ‘shovers’ will succeed a race of ‘wingers.’
Hence Winging vbl. sb. (Rugby Football).
1922. J. M. B. Scott, Rugby Football, 72. ‘Winging’ … is the most scientific game a forward can play.
