dial. [f. CATER sb.2 or F. quatre four.] To place or set rhomboidally; to cut, move, go, etc., diagonally. Hence Catering, Catered ppl. a.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 69 b. The trees are set checkerwise and so catred [partim in quincuncem directis], as looke which way ye will, they lye level. Ibid., 71. Two sortes of this catred order [quincuncialis ordinis duplicem rationem], one wherin my trees stand foure square like the chequer or Chessebord.
1873. G. A. Lawrence, Silverland, 129 (Hoppe). ‘Cater’ across the rails [at a level crossing] ever so cleverly, you cannot escape jolt and jar.
1875. Parish, Sussex Dial., Catering, slanting, from corner to corner.
