Fur sb.¹

Forms: 4–7 furre, 7–9 furr, 8 fir, 6– fur. [f. FUR v.

  The OF. forre, fuerre, sheath, case, is commonly given as the immediate source; but it does not appear to have had the sense of the Eng. sb., though the derived vb. forrer (mod. F. fourrer), originally to encase, developed the sense ‘to line,’ and ‘to line or trim with fur.’ The Fr. word for fur is fourrure (OF. forrure): see FURRURE.]

  1.  A trimming or lining for a garment, made of the dressed coat of certain animals (as the ermine, beaver, etc.: see 2); hence, the coat of such animals as a material for trimmings, linings, or entire garments (worn either for warmth or for ornament). Also a garment made of, or trimmed or lined with, this material; now chiefly pl., exc. as denoting a piece of fur to be worn about the neck.

a. 1366[?].  Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 228. A burnet cote … Furred with no menivere, But with a furre rough of here, Of lambeskinnes.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 401. Þei schal were no manere furres.

1418.  E. E. Wills (1882), 34. I bequethe to the same Ionet, my ffurre of Calabre.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 163. Thay are so gay in furrys fyne.

1551.  in Strype, Eccl. Mem. (1721), II. xxxiii. 539. A fur of black Irish lamb.

1602.  Marston, Antonio’s Rev., II. iii. Wks. 1856, I. 97.

1681.  Wood, Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), II. 525. Blak gownes, fac’d with furr.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), II. 231. The inhabitants go … cloathed in furs or feathers.

1814.  Scott, Ld. of Isles, II. vi. The costly furs That erst had deck’d their caps were torn.

1886.  Hall Caine, Son of Hagar, II. xvi. Greta had returned to the parlour, muffled in furs.

  fig.  1621.  Molle, Camerar. Liv. Libr., V. XIV. 374. The wine banisheth feare,… bringing into open view ill will, enuy, grudgings, the right linings and furres of the soule.

  b.  worn as a mark of office or state, and as a badge of certain degrees at the Universities.

1634.  Milton, Comus, 707. Those budge doctors of the Stoic fur.

1675.  Otway, Alcibiades, I. i. Heavy Gown-men clad in formal Furrs.

1729.  Waterland, Let., Wks. 1823, X. 320. The picture of Sir William Cecil, after Lord Burleigh, in his gown and furs, and holding in his left hand a Hebrew Psalter.

a. 1763.  Shenstone, Economy, I. 148.

  2.  The short, fine, soft hair of certain animals (as the sable, ermine, beaver, otter, bear, etc.) growing thick upon the skin, and distinguished from the ordinary hair, which is longer and coarser. Formerly also, † the wool of sheep.

c. 1430.  Lydg., Hors, Shepe & G., 49, in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems, 16. The shepe … berythe furres blake and whyte.

1579.  Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Sept., 165. Thy Ball is a bold bigge curre, And could make a iolly hole in theyr furre.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, III. i. i4 (Qo. 1). This night, wherin … The Lyon, and the belly pinched Wolfe Keepe their furre dry.

1732.  Pope, Ess. Man, I. 167.

1748.  F. Smith, Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass., I. 189. They, like them, leave the Hair on Skins, where the Fleece or Fir is soft and warm, as Beaver, Otter, &c.

1812.  J. Smyth, Pract. Customs (1821), 310. Coney Wool, or Rabbits’ Fur … principally used by Hatters.

1847.  Longf., Ev., I. ii. 10. Cold would the winter be, for thick was the fur of the foxes.

1868.  Darwin, Anim. & Pl., I. i. 46. All the cats are covered with short stiff hair instead of fur.

  b.  fig. in phr. to stroke the fur the wrong way (i.e., to cause irritation); to make the fur fly (U.S. slang: see quot.).

1848.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer., To make the fur fly. To claw; scratch; wound severely. Used figuratively.

1870.  Miss Bridgman, Ro. Lynne, I. vii. 100. He stroked all the fur the wrong way.

1888.  Denver Republican, 29 Feb. (Farmer). ‘Wait until the National Committee assembles … and you will see the fur fly from the Cleveland hide.’

  3.  pl. Skins of such animals with the fur on them.

1555.  Eden, Decades (Arb.), 242. In this lande are many excellent furres, as marterns, sables, and such other rych furres of the which the sayde pilote brought summe with hym into Spayne.

c. 1645.  Howell, Lett. (1655), I. VI. iii. 9. I shall be carefull to bring with me those Furres, I had instructions for.

1748.  F. Smith, Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass., I. 156. The Skins of those Beasts, which are killed in Winter being only of Value, and what we call Firs.

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, xxvii. This his old host and friend, with whom he had transacted many bargains for hides and furs.

1836.  W. Irving, Astoria, II. xxiii. 206. Mr. Clarke accordingly packed all his furs on twenty-eight horses.

  4.  Her. A tincture representing tufts upon a plain ground, or patches of different colors supposed to be sewn together.

  The eight principal furs are ermine, ermines, erminois, pean, vair, countervair, potent, and counterpotent.

1610.  Guillim, Heraldry, I. iv. (1660), 20. Furres (used in Armes) are taken for the Skins of certain beasts stripped from the bodies and artificially trimmed for the furring, doubling, or lining of Robes and Garments.

1708.  [see DOUBLING vbl. sb. 2].

1725.  Bradley, Fam. Dict., Furs, in Heraldry are used in the Doublings of Mantles pertaining to a Coat of Arms, and sometimes to the Coat it self: They are usually of two Colours.

1766.  [see DOUBLE v. 6 a].

1882.  Cussans, Her., iii. (ed. 3), 55. Furs are known by the name of Doublings, when used in the linings of mantles; but when coming under the denomination of Tinctures, they are called each by their respective name.

  5.  collect. Furred animals. Also in phrase fur and feather. See FEATHER sb. 4.

1827.  Pollok, Course T., v. 1025. Hunted thence the fur To Labrador.

1875.  ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. 1. vii. § 7. 106. The true Sussex may easily be kept strictly to feather, and though they will readily hunt fur when nothing else is to be had, they do not prefer it, as most other dogs do.

1884.  St. James’s Gaz., 7 Aug., 4/2. Farmers … find it somewhat difficult to carry on their coursing meetings because of the scarcity of fur.

  6.  Applied to something resembling fur or adhering to a surface like fur, e.g., a coat or crust of mold, of deposit from wine, etc.

1843.  Lever, J. Hinton, vi. (1878), 38. The ill-omened fur one sees on an antiquated apple-pie.

1852.  Mrs. Meredith, My Home in Tasmania, I. ix. 134. With four or five broad up-turned projecting ridges [in shells], fringed beneath like the fur of a mushroom.

1855.  Dickens, Dorrit, I. v. Empty wine-bottles with fur and fungus choking up their throats.

1864.  Webster, Fur … the soft, downy covering on the skin of a peach.

1877.  Black, Green Past., xix. (1878), 150. A raw, damp, grey mist, that hung about the woods and fields, and dripped from the withered briers in the hedges, and covered the thick top-coats of the two men with a fur of wet.

  b.  esp. A coating formed on the tongue in certain diseased conditions of the body.

1693.  Dryden, tr. Persius, III. 172. My Pulse unequal, and my Breath is strong; Besides, a filthy Furr upon my Tongue.

1783.  S. Chapman, in Med. Commun., I. 277. Her tongue had a whitish fur on it.

1801.  Med. Jrnl., V. 508. Her tongue, teeth, and lips were covered with a black fur.

1849–52.  R. B. Todd, The Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology, IV. 1139/2. Variation in the quantity of fur on the tongue from day to day.

  c.  A coating or crust formed by the deposit of carbonate of lime on the interior surface of a kettle, boiler, etc.

1800.  W. Saunders, Min. Waters, 38–9. Boiling … drives off the excess of carbonic acid, and thus causes the chalk to be precipitated; hence the earthy crust, or furr, on kettles, in which hard water has been boiled for a number of times.

1837.  Mech. Mag., XXVIII. 96. An invention for dissolving the ‘fur’ which collects in kettles and boilers.

1865.  Pall Mall G., 7 July, 7/2. For the purpose of removing the fur from the steam boiler.

  7.  Carpentry. (See quot.) Cf. FURRING vbl. sb. 3 b, FUR v. 6.

1703.  T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 146. When Rafters are rotten, or sunk hollow in the middle, and pieces (cut thickest in the middle, and to a point at each end) are nail’d upon them to make them straight again … those pieces so put on are call’d Furrs.

[1858–9: see FUOR.]

  II.  attrib. and Comb.

  8.  attrib. or as adj. Made of fur.

1597.  Skene, De Verb. Sign., s.v. Bullion, Ilk serplaith of furfelles, con. 4000 .iiij. ounce.

1713.  Warder, True Amazons (ed. 2), 58. Her upper parts are of a lighter brown than the rest, having the Resemblance of a Velvet Cape, or Fur Gorget ahout her Shoulders.

1792.  Descript. Kentucky, 49. Fur-muffs and tippets.

1884.  Chamb, Jrnl., 5 Jan., 10/1. The dogs … should then be protected by fur-boots.

1885.  Girl’s Own Paper, Jan., 202/1. Fur balls, fur fringe, and fur tails seem the most usual finish on all mantles.

  9.  General comb., as fur trade, -trader; objective, as fur-dressing vbl. sb.; instrumental, as fur-clad, -lined, -trimmed, -wrought ppl. adjs.; parasynthetic, as fur-capped, -collared, -cuffed, -gowned ppl. adjs.

1887.  J. A. Sterry, Lazy Minstr. (1892), 68.

1784.  Cowper, Task, V. 127.

1842.  Macaulay, Lays, Proph. Capys, xxxi. Where fur-clad hunters wander Amidst the northern ice.

1856.  Lever, Martins of Cro’ M., 136. A grey cloth spencer being drawn over his coat, *fur-collared and cuffed.

1888.  Daily News, 21 Sept., 7/2. A *fur-dressing patent.

1757.  J. G. Cooper, Apol. Aristippus, iii. 160. The … *fur-gown’d Pedants’ bookish Rules.

1886.  W. J. Tucker, E. Europe, 202. He muffled himself in his *fur-lined cloak.

1837.  W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, I. 42. Before the annual assemblages of people connected with the *fur trade, should have broken up, and dispersed to the hunting ground.

1848.  Thoreau, Maine W. (1894), 14. One small leaden bullet, and some colored beads, the last to be referred, perhaps, to early *fur-trader days.

1860.  G. A. Spottiswoode, Vac. Tour, 98. Long, straight, *fur-trimmed coats.

1731.  Gay, Rur. Sports, i. 270. Let me, less cruel, cast the feather’d hook … And with the *fur-wrought fly delude the prey.

  10.  Special comb.: † fur-man slang (see quot.); fur-puller (see quot.); so fur-pulling vbl. sb.; fur seal, the seal that affords the valuable fur known as seal-skin.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, *Fur-men, Aldermen.

1725.  in New Cant. Dict.

1891.  Labour Commission Gloss., *Fur-pullers, those who scrape the loose down off rabbit and other skins, and do various minor parts of fur-making.

1886.  Daily News, 13 Dec., 5/5. A widow, working at *fur pulling.

1775.  Clayton, in Phil. Trans., LXVI. 102. The *furr seal has its name from its coat, which is a fine soft furr, and is thinner skinned than any of the others.

1883.  Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4), 191. Group of Fur Seals … stuffed Ribbon Seal … cast of Harbour Seal.