[f. UNDO v. + -ER1.]
† 1. An expounder, interpreter. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Jas., Prol. So also of interpretouris, or vndoeris, in to Latyn speche thei were turned treuly.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 365. Ondoar, or expownare, expositor, interpres.
2. One who opens or unfastens. rare.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 365/1. Ondoare, or opynnare of thyngys schet or closyd…, apertor.
3. A destroyer, wrecker, ruiner.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 365/1. Ondoare, or dystroyare, destructor.
1456. Sir G. Hay, Gov. Princes, Wks. (S.T.S.), II. 101. Thus ar the tymes of somer and wynter bathe doare and undoare to all erdly thing that growis under the hevyn.
1567. Drant, Horace, Ep., I. xv. E vj. Th’ vndoer, tempest, and the hell of al the shambles then.
1598. R. Bernard, trans. Terence, Adelphos, V. iii. Loe heere at hand the common corruption and vndoer of our children.
1633. Heywood, Eng. Trav., IV. This my customary comming hither, Hath bin to base and sorded purposes: To … be mine owne vndoer.
1796. C. Anstey, Pleaders’ Guide (1803), 171. Sure Law was made to be the undoer Of just such Nincompoops as you are!
1844. Mrs. Browning, Drama of Exile, 423. I now confess myself thy death And thine undoer.
1895. R. L. & F. Stevenson, Dynamiter, 161. Greed … has been your undoer.
b. spec. One who ruins a woman; a seducer.
1703. Rowe, Fair Penit., IV. i. Think, whom I shou’d devote to Death and Hell, Whom Curse, as my Undoer, but Lothario.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), II. 49. I awakened … in the arms of my cruel and accursed undoer.
1847. Lytton, Lucretia, II. xiv. The child of … your betrayer, your undoer, stands between the daylight and your son.
