riser

Etymology

It is formed from English rise + -er,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the Middle English verb being risen.^[4][7] Middle English spellings include risere and rysare.^[2][3] The verb rise is from Old English rīsan (“to rise, get up”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who stirs up others to revolt, with of: before 1398, in John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[2] Etymonline gives the late 14th-century sense as "rebel, insurgent".^[3]

Semantic evolution

The early senses were about rebellion: one who incites revolt (to 1582) and a rebel (1422–1693).^[2][3] The lasting sense, one who gets up from bed at an early or late hour, is recorded from the 15th century;^[2][3][4] Johnson (1755) defined the word simply as "one that rises", quoting Chapman's "early riser" for the dawn goddess Aurora.^[8] Other personal senses were short-lived: a social climber (1574–1640) and one who rises from the dead (before 1631, in Donne, to 1835).^[2] The thing that rises came in with building: the upright part of a step is recorded from 1556 in the current OED,^[2] from 1771 in the 1989 edition,^[9] and by 1738 in Etymonline.^[3] Later came a supporting block or platform (1800), a vertical pipe (1886, in riser pipe), a step in a glacial landform (1911) and a low stage platform (1945).^[2] A fish rising to a fly is recorded from 1872.^[2] In dialect a riser was a kick in Yorkshire and Lancashire, and in Devon the springing stick of a bird snare;^[10] in American underworld slang of the early 20th century it was a scare or surprise.^[11]

Timeline

• before 1398 – one who stirs up revolt (obsolete by 1582).^[2]
• 1422 – a rebel (obsolete by 1693).^[2]
• before 1500 – one who gets up early or late.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century.^[3]
• 1556 – the upright part of a step.^[2]
• 1574 – a social climber (obsolete by 1640).^[2]
• 1800 – a block or platform holding something up.^[2]
• 1872 – a fish that rises to the surface.^[2]
• 1886 – a vertical pipe, in riser pipe.^[2]
• 1911 – in geomorphology, a steep step in a glacial stairway.^[2]
• 1914 – in American underworld slang, a scare or surprise.^[11]
• 1945 – a low platform on a stage.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who gets up from bed, especially at a stated time: an early riser.^[12][4][2]
2. The vertical part of a stair or step, between two treads.^[12][4][2]
3. A vertical pipe, as for water or gas, or a vertical section of electrical wiring in a building.^[12][13]
4. A low platform on a stage that raises a performer or object into view.^[12][13][2]
5. One of the straps that join a parachutist's harness to the shroud lines.^[13]
6. (geomorphology) A steep slope between flatter steps, as in a glaciated valley.^[4][2]
7. A fish that rises to the surface or to an angler's fly.^[2]
8. (obsolete, 1422–1693) A rebel or insurgent.^[2][4]

Word family

• high-riser

Related words

• rise
• arise

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ 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. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster