Forms: 4–7 forster(e, (5 Sc. forestar, 6 forstar), 7–8 forrester, 3– forester. Also FOSTER. [ad. OF. and Fr. forestier, f. OF. forest FOREST.]
1. An officer having charge of a forest (see quot. 1598); also, one who looks after the growing timber on an estate. † Forester in or of fee: one who holds his office in fee: see FEE sb.2 4 a. In poetical and romantic use sometimes a huntsman.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 499.
| Ne that bailif, ne forester, ne soffrede hom nower come, | |
| To sowe, ne to other thing, that hor bestes nere inome. |
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 496.
| Þe forster for his riȝtes | |
| Þe left schulder ȝaf he, | |
| Wiþ hert, liuer and liȝtes | |
| And blod tille his quirre. |
1458. Tomb in Newland Ch. (co. Glouc.). Here lythe Jun Wyrall forester of fee.
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714), 124. Some fforester of þe kynges.
1523. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 27. Faire fall that forster that so well can bate his hownde!
1598. Manwood, Lawes Forest, xxi. § 4 (1615), 200–1. A Forester is an officier of a forest of the King (or of an other man) that is sworne to preserue the Vert and Venison of the same forest, and to attend vpon the wild beasts within his Bailiwick, and to attach offendors there … and the same to present at the courts of the same forest.
1607. Cowell, Interpr., s.v. Forester.… Some haue this graunt to them and their heires, and thereby are called Foristers or Fosters in fee.
1646. G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. 1878, I. 67.
| How now this wounded Heart they drive away, | |
| Who whilome was the fairest Beast impal’d, | |
| The fforsters cheife delight; | |
| By hap, or rather Spight | |
| Pines, Langvishes, and now is Dead, ere he knew what Hee ayld. |
1735. Somerville, The Chace, III. 224.
| The painful Forrester | |
| Climbs the high Hills. |
1809. Campbell, O’Connor’s Child, viii.
| Come with thy belted forestere, | |
| And I, beside the lake of swans, | |
| Shall hunt for thee the fallow-deer. |
1843. G. P. R. James, Forest Days, iv. One on the left hand of the group suddently put the magnificent horse on which he was mounted into a quick canter, and rode straight towards the foresters.
b. Forester of the King of France: an early title of the governor of Flanders.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 379. In his tyme bygan þe erldom of Flaundres, [for þat tyme Flaundres] and was nouȝt of greet name, but it was i-ruled by þe kynges forsters of Fraunce.
1494. Fabyan, Chron. VI. clxvi. 161. The ruler there of [Flanders] was callyd the forester of the kynge of Fraunce, which erledom had his begynnynge by this meane.
† 2. One versed in forest-craft. Obs.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1688), IV. 455. You are cryed up, my Lord, to be an excellent Horseman, Huntsman, Forester.
3. One who lives in a forest.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. ix. 15.
| Quhilk thing | |
| Was the first caus of weirfayr and fechtyng, | |
| And first steryt the wild forstaris fell | |
| To move debait, or mak thame for battell. |
1664. Evelyn, Sylva, xxxii. Parænesis, § 3. 112. Foresters, and Bordurers, are not generally so civil, and reasonable, as might be wished.
1807. Wordsw., White Doe Rylstone, V.
| High on a point of rugged ground | |
| Among the wastes of Rylstone Fell | |
| Above the loftiest ridge or mound | |
| Where foresters or shepherds dwell, | |
| An edifice of warlike frame | |
| Stands single—Norton Tower its name. |
1821. Dwight, Trav., II. 459. A considerable part of those, who begin the cultivation of the wilderness, may be denominated foresters, or Pioneers.
b. A bird or beast of the forest; spec. one of the rough ponies bred in the New Forest. In Australian use, the great kangaroo (Macropus giganteus).
1630. Davenant, Just Italian, V. Dram. Wks. 1872, I. 274.
| They’ve watch’d | |
| My hardy violence so tame, that now | |
| Each feather’d forester roosts in my beard. |
1713. J. Warder, True Amazons, 58. The Queen doth so far surpass her Subjects in Shape and Beauty, as the finest Horse that ever ran on Banstead Downs, doth the most common Forrester.
1782. Cowper, Prog. Err., 361.
| And without discipline, the fav’rite child, | |
| Like a neglected forester, runs wild. |
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, VIII. 280.
| For, no hunter he, | |
| He loved to see the dappled foresters | |
| Browze fearless on their lair, with friendly eye. |
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, VI. ii. 294. There was no path but the underwood was low, and Vivian took his horse, an old forester, across it with ease.
1832. Bischoff, Van Diemen’s Land, ii. 27–8. There are three or four varieties of kangaroos; those most common, and which furnish sport in the chase, are denominated the forester and brush kangaroo.
1890. Boldrewood, Miner’s Right, xix. 181. The enclosure, made for them as if they had been a brace of stray ‘foresters’ from the adjacent ranges.
c. A popular name of several moths of the family Zygænidæ.
1819. G. Samouelle, Entomol. Compend., 245. Ino Statices (forester). Inhabits the margins of woods in meadows.
1867. Stainton, Brit. Butterflies & Moths, 33. Of the Sphinges, or Hawk Moths, the Foresters and Burnets frequent dry grassy slopes, flying heavily in the sunshine.
d. = forest-tree.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 224. You may transplant not only any Fruit-Trees, but remove also any of the Foresters, even in the midst of Summer. Ibid. (1664), Sylva (1776), 38. Foresters, which only require diligent weeding and frequent cleansing, till they are able to shift for themselves; and as their vessels enlarge and introsume more copious nourishment, often starve their neighbours.
1840. Poe, Gold Bug, Wks. 1864, I. 63. In youth, the tulip-tree, or Liriodendron Tulipiferum the most magnificent of American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a great height without lateral branches.
1893. Illustr. Sport. & Dram. News, 22 July, 751/3. A few fruit trees, and a few more arborescent foresters.
4. A member of the ‘friendly society’ known as the ‘Ancient Order of Foresters.’
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., II. 178. There are, however, scattered about in every part of London numerous benefit clubs made up of working-men of every description, such as Old Friends, Odd Fellows, Foresters, and Birmingham societies.
1875. Brabrook, in Jrnl. Statist. Soc., XXXVIII. June, 187. The Ancient Order of Foresters, which has now (31st December, 1874) 276 districts, 4,241 courts, and 468,495 members, besides 10,013 honorary members.
5. Comb. forester oats (see quot.); forester sphinx (see quot. 1867).
1794. Hutchinson, Hist. Cumberland, I. 166, note. The tenants make boon-day service in shearing and leading coals, and pay forester oats. These manors are within the forest of Inglewood, and these oats were a duty paid to the forester.
1867. Stainton, Brit. Butterflies & Moths, 123. Procris Statices. The Forester Sphinx.
Hence Forestership, the office of forester.
a. 1634. Coke, On Litt., IV. lxxiii. (1648), 310. The Forestership is become void.
1886. Athenæum, 20 Nov., 672/3. It is now announced that he [Chaucer] held the forestership of North Petherton, and whether the appointment necessitated personal superintendence on the spot or not, an unsatisfactory gap in the poet’s life is now filled up, and in a manner exactly in accordance with the poet’s pecuniary requirements.
