settler

Etymology

It is formed from English settle + -er.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the much older formation seen in Old English -setla, as in cotsetla, literally "a person who sits" or "a person who occupies a place", and for the legal sense the earlier settlor.^[2] The verb settle is from Old English setlan (“to place in a fixed position, to seat”), from setl (“a seat”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person or thing that fixes, decides or calms something, or puts it in order: 1598, in John Florio's Italian–English dictionary A Worlde of Wordes.^[2][6] Etymonline likewise dates the sense "a thing that settles a debate" to the 1590s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense now usual, a person who moves to a new country or territory to live there, is recorded from 1653, in an account of troubles in Barbados;^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1690s,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford notes that it was at first North American.^[4] Later uses narrowed it: from 1819 a white resident of a colonized territory with a non-white Indigenous population,^[2] and since 1967 an Israeli who settles in the occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip.^[2] The general sense "a resident" appears in 1771.^[2] The older "thing that settles" branch produced a tank in which sediment settles (1673), a last drink taken to settle the stomach (1744), a knockout blow or crushing reply (1818 to 1913), a betting-shop clerk who works out the winnings (1868), and in law a person who makes a settlement of property (1799).^[2][7] From 1884 a settler was also a worker in a social settlement house.^[2]

Timeline

• 1598 – a person or thing that settles or decides something.^[2][6]
• 1653 – a person who goes to live in a new country, a colonist.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1690s.^[3]
• 1673 – a vat in which a liquid deposits its sediment.^[2]
• 1744 – a drink taken at the end of an evening.^[2][7]
• 1771 – a resident of a place.^[2]
• 1799 – in law, a person who settles property.^[2]
• 1819 – a white resident of a territory with an Indigenous population.^[2]
• 1868 – a betting-shop clerk who calculates winnings.^[2]
• 1884 – a worker in a settlement house.^[2]
• 1967 – an Israeli resident of the West Bank or Gaza Strip.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who goes to live in a new country or region, especially one who helps to found a community there; a colonist: The first settlers cleared the valley for farms.^[6][2][4]
2. A person or thing that settles something, such as a dispute: a settler of quarrels.^[6][2]
3. A vessel in which a liquid is left so that its sediment can settle; a settling tank.^[6][2]
4. (colloquial) A last alcoholic drink taken to settle the stomach or to help sleep.^[2][7]
5. (law) A person who makes a settlement of property; a settlor.^[2]

Word family

• outsettler

Related words

• settlement
• settle
• settlor

References

1. ^ a b 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com