[f. TROUNCE v.1 + -ER1.] One who trounces; spec. an odd man (see ODD A. 8 d); † on a man-of-war: see quot. 1867 (obs.).
c. 1630. Dr. Triplet, in Aubrey, Brief Lives (1898), I. 264. When this well truss’t trounser Into the school doth enter.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Trouncer, an old word for a waister. [Ibid., Waisters … had little else of duty but hoisting and swabbing the decks.]
1896. Booth, in Westm. Gaz., 26 March, 2/1. Brewhouse men, cellar men, yardmen, coopers, filings-makers, draymen, and trouncers.
1898. A. Lang, in Longm. Mag., Nov., 92. My friend and constant ‘trouncer’ … has been pitching into me.
