Obs. or dial. Forms: 1 átr, átor, attor, ættor, 1–6 ater, 1–9 atter; also 3 atterr, 4 attere, 4–5 attur, hoter, 5 hatter, 5–6 attir, 5–7 attyr, 6 atir, etter. [Common Teut.: with OE. átr, átor, attor, cf. OHG. eitar, eittar, mod.G. eiter, OS. êtar, ON. eitr, (Sw. etter, Da. edder,) Du. eyter, etter. The original long vowel (giving ME. ōter) has been irregularly shortened in Eng., as also in other of the modern languages.]
† 1. Poison, venom, esp. that of reptiles. Obs.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 112. Wiþ fleoʓendum atre & ælcum æternum swile.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 169. Atter meind mid wine.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XII. 256. And alle þe oþer … enuenymeþ þorgh his attere.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, III. 920. And withdroghe the deire of his dere attur.
fig. c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 75. Þan deþliche atter þet þe alde deouel blou on Adam.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 80. Habbeð wlatunge of þe muðe þet speoweð ut atter.
† 2. Gall; fig. bitterness. Obs.
a. 700. Epinal Gloss., 141, Corpus 297, Bile, átr.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 23. A lutel ater bitteret muchele swete.
c. 1320. Cast. Loue, 1150. Atter heo him dude to drinke i-meynt wt eisil.
c. 1430. Hymns to Virg. (1867), 24. I may drede at my departynge Þat it wole be attir & ille.
3. Corrupt matter, pus, from a sore, ulcer, abscess, etc. Still in Sc. and north. dial.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IV. vii. (1495), 90. Vnkynde blood and hoter.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 326/1. Of kyrnellys and botches of his face … ranne grete plente of blood and atter.
1535. Coverdale, Job ii. 7. And scraped of the etter off his sores with a potsherde.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 422. Ears that run attyr.
1643. Horn & Robotham, Gate Lang. Unl., xxv. § 318. A green wound … rotted into a gory venemous atter.
1864. Atkinson, Whitby Gloss., Atter or Atteril, the matter of a sore…. The tongue is said to be covered with ‘a dry white atter,’ when furred with fever.
