[f. as prec. + -ER1.]
1. One who justifies: see JUSTIFY v.
1526. Tindale, Rom. iii. 26. That he myght be counted iuste, and a iustifiar of hym which belevith on Iesus.
1528. Frith, Answ. Rastel, Wks. (1573), 16. You must graunt, that we haue a Christ or no Christ … a iustifier or no iustifier.
1629. H. Burton, Babel no Bethel, 32. That I leaue to you, her justifier.
1711. Strype, Parker, III. xiv. 236. Justifiers of themselves and Hypocrites.
1838. J. H. Newman, Justification, x. § 2. Faith is the sole justifier.
2. Type-founding and Printing. a. A workman who justifies: see JUSTIFY 9; hence, in a typesetting machine: see quot. 1888. b. A wedge or the like for fixing an adjusted part of a printing-press, as the stone in the coffin, etc.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xi. ¶ 17. Justifiers of Wood, the length of every side,… must be thrust between the insides of the Coffin and the outsides of the Stone, to Wedge it tight … after the Press-man has Bedded it.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. 510. To admit of justifiers between the stone and coffin, which are put to keep the stone steady after it is bedded.
1890. Cent. Dict., s.v. Justifier, in type-founding, the workman who fits up a suite of strikes or unjustified matrices for use on one mold.
1888. Pall Mall Gaz., 10 Sept., 11/2. Even more ingenious is the second machine, or ‘justifier,’ to which the type set up by the typotheter is taken. The ‘justifier’ … spaces out the lines with great regularity and in so short a time that 20,000 ens per hour is about the average output.
