wafter
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwɒftə(ɹ)/
Etymology 1
Alteration of Middle English waughter, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German wachter (“a guard”), from wachten (“to guard”).
Noun
wafter (plural wafters)
- (obsolete) Armed convoy or escort ship
- (obsolete) An agent of the Crown with responsibility for protecting specific maritime activities, such as shipping or fishing.
Etymology 2
Noun
wafter (plural wafters)
- One who, or that which, wafts.
- 1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Mad Lover”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i:
- Thou wafter of the soul to bliss or bane.
- (fishing) A semi-bouyant hookbait designed to waft just above the lakebed.