footer

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English foter, also footer,^[2][3] formed from English foot + -er,^{[4][2][5][6][7]} partly from the noun and partly from the verb;^[4][5] the Middle English Dictionary derives it from the verb foten.^[3] In the sense "football" it is a schoolboy formation from the first part of football with the colloquial suffix -er, earlier than soccer.^[4][8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who travels on foot: before 1425, in Edward, Duke of York's Master of Game;^[4] the Middle English Dictionary reads it there as a huntsman who hunts on foot, set beside the best hunters and boldest hounds.^[3] Etymonline dates "a pedestrian" to about 1600,^[7] and Merriam-Webster to 1608.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The old sense, a pedestrian or someone who walks in a place, lasted until the late 19th century,^[4] and survives mainly in first-footer.^[5] Most later senses name a thing connected with the foot: in hosiery, a person or machine that knits the feet of stockings (1661),^[4][2] a kick at a football (1781, now obsolete),^[4][7] the bowler's mat in bowls (1844)^[4][5] and, in falconry, a hawk judged by its grip on its prey (1873).^[4][2] With a number in front, footer names a person or thing so many feet tall or long, as in six-footer.^[5][2][9] At Harrow in 1863 boys were reported to call football footer,^[8][4][7] and the word remained British informal slang for the game.^[9] In word processing, from 1975, a footer is the text placed at the foot of every page of a document.^[4][10]

Timeline

• before 1425 – a person who travels on foot, a huntsman on foot.^[4][3] Etymonline dates the sense to about 1600.^[7]
• 1581 – a person who walks in or frequents a place (obsolete).^[4]
• 1661 – a person or machine that knits the feet of stockings.^[4]
• 1781 – a kick at a football (obsolete).^[4][7]
• 1844 – in bowls, the mat on which the bowler stands.^[4]
• 1863 – British slang, the game of football.^[4][8][7]
• 1873 – in falconry, a hawk rated by its ability to seize prey.^[4]
• 1975 – in word processing, text at the foot of each page.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Text placed in the bottom margin of every page of a document, such as a title, date or page number, especially in word processing.^[10][4]
2. (in combination) A person or thing that is a stated number of feet tall or long: Their new sailboat is a forty-footer.^[9][2][10]
3. (British, informal) Football, especially soccer or rugby.^[9][2][8]
4. In bowls, the mat on which a player stands when delivering a bowl.^[2][4][5]
5. In falconry, a hawk considered for its ability to seize prey with its talons: a good footer.^[2][4]
6. (historical) A machine that knits the feet of stockings, or a person who works one.^[2][4]
7. (archaic) A person who goes on foot; a pedestrian.^{[9][2][11][5]}

Related words

• six-footer
• foot
• football
• first-footer

Usage notes

A different word footer, pronounced with the vowel of boot, is chiefly Scots and northern dialect: a contemptible, foolish or clumsy person (from 1748), and as a verb, to potter about or bungle (from 1825).^[4][5] It is probably a variant of the obsolete foutre, a worthless thing or contemptible person,^[4][12] which Chambers takes from Old French foutre, from Latin futuō (“to copulate with”).^[13]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d 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)
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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers