setter

Etymology

It is formed from English set + -er,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} in Middle English from setten (“to set”).^[7][8][9] The OED compares Dutch zetter, Old High German sezzari (now German Setzer), Swedish sättare and Danish sætter.^[2] The hunting dog was so called, according to Barnhart, because it was originally "set" on game, incited to attack or pursue it;^[5] Etymonline instead explains the name by the dog's habit of sitting or crouching when it scents game.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A workman who lays stone or brick in building: about 1403, in the fabric rolls of York Minster.^[2] Etymonline dates the word, in the same sense, to about 1400.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the late 15th century setter was used generally of anyone who sets something, often as the second part of compounds such as bonesetter and typesetter.^[2][3] It was used for an implement from the 1520s.^[6][3] The hunting dog, originally a kind of spaniel, is recorded from 1576, in a translation of Johannes Caius's Of English Dogs,^[5][6][10] which describes the dog lying down near the bird and so showing where it is;^[10] the dog is now trained to point at its game.^[5][7] In thieves' slang a setter was a gang member who kept watch or drew victims into crooked games, from 1552,^[11] and Johnson (1755) defined the word as one who sets, as a dog that beats the field and points the bird, and as a man who finds out persons to be plundered.^[12] Later trades had their own setters, of jewels (1819) and of saws and razors (1833).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1403 – one who lays stone or brick (obsolete by 1601).^[2]
• before 1500 – one who sets something.^[2]
• 1520s – an implement used in setting.^[6]
• 1548 – with an adverb, as setter-forth, setter-up.^[2]
• 1552 – a decoy or lookout for thieves or swindlers.^[11]
• 1576 – a hunting dog that marks the position of game.^[5][6]
• 1726 – in dice, the player who stakes against the caster.^[2]
• 1819 – a workman who sets jewels.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or thing that sets something, often in compounds: a setter of exam questions, trendsetter, pacesetter.^[7][3][13]
2. Any of several breeds of long-haired gun dogs trained to point at game, such as the Irish setter.^{[13][14][3][4]}
3. A tool or machine used for setting.^[3][6]
4. (archaic) A decoy for swindlers, or a spy for robbers.^[3][12]

Word family

• bonesetter
• imagesetter
• trendsetter
• pacesetter
• pinsetter
• Irish setter

Related words

• seater
• sitter
• set

Usage notes

The OED and the English Dialect Dictionary record two regional words setter of other origin: a seton or issue made in the skin of cattle, named after the plant setterwort, and in Shetland and Orkney a pasture near a farm, from Norn.^[2][15]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
14. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ 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)