Obs. [a. MDu. corver a fisherman, and fishing ship (of some kind): cf. the phrase te corve varen to go a fishing in a korfscip; korfharinck a herring (of some kind), korfmarct the market where the fish were sold. Of uncertain origin: possibly from corf, korf basket: the only sense of Korver in Kilian is ‘cistifer, cistam seu corbem ferens, corbulo’ = basket-man, basket-carrier. But this does not well explain the phrase te corve varen.] A kind of Dutch herring-fisher and fishing-boat.
1491. Earl of Oxford, in Paston Lett., No. 926, III. 372. The roborye and dispoyling of certayn Corvers of Holond and Selond done by the shipp callyd the Foole, wherof Robert Spenser was maister, aswell in herryng, vitayle, and takelyng.
