[OE. fuȝelere, agent-n. f. fuȝelian to FOWL.]
1. One who hunts wild birds, whether for sport or food, esp. with nets; a bird-catcher. Now rare.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 14. [Ñær] huntan ȝewicodon, oþþe fisceras, oþþe fuȝel[er]as.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 3. As þe fuhel þe is fon i þe fuheleres grune.
1382. Wyclif, Amos iii. 5. Wher a brid shal falle in to grane of erþe, wiþ outen a fouler?
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., Prol. 138.
| The foweler we deffye, | |
| And al his crafte. |
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems, 186.
| A blery-eed fowler trust not though he wepe, | |
| Eschewe his thombe, of weping take noon hede, | |
| That smale birddes can nype be the hede. |
1657. W. Coles, Adam in Eden, 305. Boyes and Fowlers use the Berries [of the Ash] as Baites to catch Blackbirds, Thrushes, &c.
1723. Lond. Gaz., No. 6222/9. Simon Teatford … Fisher and Fowler.
1815. Elphinstone, Acc. Caubul (1842), I. 77. We frequently saw fowlers catching quails among the wheat.
1879. Jefferies, Wild Life in a Southern County, 296. He [a fowler] had a cock chaffinch in a cage covered with a black cloth, exceprt on one side.
fig. 1340. Ayenb., 254. Þe herte … ualþ ofte into þe grines of þe uoȝelere of helle.
Comb.
1685. Crowne, Sir C. Nice, Epil.
| There fowler-like the watching gallant pores |
† 2. A species of catapult. Obs.
1420. Siege Rouen, in Archæol. (1827), XXI. 52.
| A stronge fowlere there was leyde lowe, | |
| Evyn by the erthe that he miȝt throwe. |
† 3. A kind of light cannon, esp. for use on board ship. Obs. Cf. Du. vogheler, whence Fr. veuglaire.
1548. Privy Council Acts (1890), II. 197. The municions folowing … fowlers of iron, xij.
1622. R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea (1847), 206. I hold nothing more convenient in shippes of warre, then fowlers and great bases in the cage workes, and murderers in the cobridge heads.
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, III. (1704), 357/1. Fowlers … are Pieces of greatest Importance, after a Ship is Boarded and Entred.
