sb. Forms: 4–6 ioynour, -or, -ar, (5 ionyowre, ionour, iunour), 5–7 ioyner, (6 ioigner), 6–7 ioiner, 7–8 joyner, 7– joiner. [ME. ioynour, a. AF. joignour, OF. joigneor, f. joigner to JOIN: subseq. conformed to agent-nouns in -er: see -OR, -ER1.]
1. One who joins, connects, unites: see JOIN v.1
1483. Cath. Angl., 199/2. A Ionour, junctor,… confederator.
1503. Hawes, Examp. Virt., XIII. viii. O ioyner of vertue and well of vnyte.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. i. § 8. Some, Housewrights; some, Shipwrights;… some, the Ioyners of smaller workes.
1642. C. Vernon, Consid. Excheq., 38. The two Deputy Chamberlaines, being Joyners of the Tallies.
2. A craftsman whose occupation it is to construct things by joining pieces of wood; a worker in wood who does lighter and more ornamental work than that of a carpenter, as the construction of the furniture and fittings of a house, ship, etc.
1386. Pat. Roll 9 Rich. II., 1. memb. 3. 10 Jan., Joynour.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, II. xi. For eche caruer and curious ioyner.
1428. E. E. Wills, 82. Y be-quethe to Iohn Hewet, Ioynour, my cosyn … vjs. viijd.
1523. Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII., c. 2. Vsing any of the misteries … of smithes, joigners, or coupars.
1563. Shute, Archit., A ij b. Enbroderers, Caruers, Ioynars, Glassyers.
1649. Fuller, Just Man’s Funeral, 33. Let … the most exquisite Joyner make the coffin.
1710. Tatler, No. 252, ¶ 4. What Method is to be taken to make Joiners and other Artificers get out of a House they have once entered.
1872. Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 43. The workshops … of joiners and cabinet-makers.
b. In possessive case, denoting tools used specially by joiners: see quot. 1875. Joiner’s work: (a) the work or occupation of a joiner; (b) woodwork made by a joiner.
1530. Palsgr., 234/2. Ioyners worke, menvserie.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 199. Inclosing it with a Rail of Joiners Work.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 236. The Joiner’s Bench is composed of a platform or top, supported by four substantial legs [etc.].
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 582. Rebates are also used for ornamenting mouldings, and for many other purposes in joiners’ work.
1874. Micklethwaite, Mod. Par. Churches, 130. English joiners’ work of the fifteenth century.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 1217/1. Joiner’s-chisel … Joiner’s clamp … Joiner’s-gage … Joiner’s plane.
3. transf. A machine for doing various kinds of work in wood.
1875. in Knight, Dict. Mech.
4. Comb. joiner-work = joiner’s work: see 2 b. (In quot. 1875 fig.)
1562. in Our Eng. Home (1861), 161, note. Buffet stoles of joyner worke.
1875. Lowell, Wks. (1890), IV. 280. There is a passage … that comes near being fine; but the far greater part is mere joiner-work.
1893. Earl Dunmore, Pamirs, I. 278. I admired all the joiner-work; the patterns … were thoroughly Chinese.
Hence Joiner v. intr., to do the work of a joiner; Joinering, the work of a joiner, or a piece of this.
1839. Carlyle, Chartism, x. 183. They are twenty-four millions … weaving, delving … joinering.
1884. Manch. Exam., 17 Nov., 5/2. [He] had a workshop wherein he did carpentering and joinering.
1888. Pall Mall Gaz., 24 May, 2/1. We found them busy joinering in a room in which, save for uniform of the warder, there was nothing to indicate that the prisoners were not ordinary carpenters in an ordinary workshop.
