sb. Obs. exc. dial. Also 8–9 eather. [Of doubtful etymology; some have identified it with OE. eodor, eder enclosure = OHG. etar, ON. jaðarr edge, border.] Osiers, hazel-rods, or other light flexible wood, used for interlacing the stakes of a hedge at the top. Also in Stake and edder (eather) fence. Hence Edder v.; also ether, trans. to interlace or bind (a hedge) at the top with osiers, etc. Eddering vbl. sb., a. the action of the verb; b. concr. the materials used in the operation.
[Beowulf, 1038. Mearas … on flet teon in under eoderas.
a. 1000. Wanderer (Gr.-Wülcker), 77. Stondað … hryðge ða ederas.]
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 126. Whan thou haste made thy hedge and eddered it well, than take thy mall agayne and dryue downe thy edderinges.
1577. Tusser, Husb., xxxiii. (1878), 73. Save edder and stake, strong hedge to make.
1664. Spelman, Gloss., s.v. Etarchartea, Angli … hoc ipsum the edar and ethar appellantes.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., II. s.v. Quickset, Edder … is to bind the Top of the Stakes in with some small long Poles, or Sticks on each Side.
1784–1815. A. Young, Ann. Agric., VII. 25. The stake and eather fence, for new made fences, is the cheapest.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric. (1807), II. 626. Hurdles, fagots, stakes and edders.
1863. Morton, Cycl. Agric., Gloss. (E. D. S.), Ethering is running a line of hazel, or other flexible rods, intertwiningly along the top of a hedge.
