chaser

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English chasour, also chaser and chacer,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French chaceor (“huntsman, hunter”), modern chasseur,^[4][3][5][6] an agent noun from chacier (“to hunt”),^[4][3][5] which goes back through Vulgar Latin *captiō to Latin captō (“to try to catch”).^[7][8] The MED and Etymonline take the English word partly from the French one and partly as formed in English from the verb chase;^[2][7] the Shorter Oxford takes the later senses as formed from English chase + -er.^[6] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1155, as a hunter and a horse trained for hunting.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A horse for the chase, a hunter: before 1300.^[4] The MED's early quotations name the chasur beside the palfrey and the steed.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense "one who hunts" is recorded from about 1470, in Malory, and "one who pursues, especially an enemy" from 1487;^[4] the horse for hunting dropped out of use in the 17th century;^[4] after 1884 a chaser was a horse trained for steeplechasing.^[4] At sea a chaser was a ship chasing another (1794) and a chase gun mounted at the bow or stern (1804).^[4] In American colloquial use a chaser was a man who chases women (1894),^[4] and a mild drink taken after spirits, first recorded in 1891 in Green's Dictionary of Slang^[10] and in 1897 in the OED;^[4] Etymonline compares French chasse, a drink taken to kill the taste of coffee or tobacco, used in English from about 1800.^[7] Since the late 1980s the drink has often been the other way round, a spirit taken after beer.^[10] From 1915 it was also a small, fast fighter aircraft.^[4] In Scotland, Northumberland and Cumberland a chaser was a ram with one testicle (1818), probably because such a ram ran with the ewes to show which were in season.^[4][11]

Timeline

• before 1300 – a horse for hunting (obsolete by 1647).^[4]
• c. 1470 – one who hunts.^[4]
• 1487 – one who pursues, especially an enemy.^[4]
• 1794 – a ship that chases another; 1804, a chase gun.^[4]
• 1818 – in Scotland, a ram with one testicle.^[4]
• 1884 – a steeplechase horse.^[4]
• 1891 – a mild drink taken after spirits.^[10] The OED's first record is from 1897.^[4]
• 1894 – a man who chases women.^[4]
• 1915 – a fast fighter aircraft.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mild drink, such as water or beer, taken after strong liquor, or a spirit drunk after beer: a rum with a water chaser.^[3][4][10]
2. A person or thing that chases or pursues; a hunter.^[3][4]
3. A horse trained for steeplechasing.^[4][6]
4. A man who pursues women; a philanderer.^[3][4]
5. A chase gun at the bow or stern of a ship.^[3][4]
6. A submarine chaser.^[3]

Word family

• smokechaser
• subchaser
• ambulance chaser
• skirt chaser
• submarine chaser
• stern chaser

Related words

• chase
• chasseur
• catch

Usage notes

Chaser is also the name of a worker who decorates metal by chasing it (from 1707) and of a tool for cutting screw threads (from 1847); these are formed from the verb chase in the sense "to engrave", which has a separate source.^[4][3][6][5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)