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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

dosser en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

  • /ˈdɒsə(ɹ)/
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From doss + -er.

Meanings

  1. (Ireland, UK) Someone who dosses, someone known for avoiding work.
    • Illustrating the strength of feeling, some said Dorries was “never here and is as useful as a chocolate teapot”, while “Dosser Dorries” posters appeared in the area. 2023 October 20, “Labour takes Nadine Dorries’ former seat in Mid Bedfordshire byelection”, in The Guardian, UK:
  2. A homeless and jobless person.
    • Formerly they endeavoured to occupy all the seats, but the lynx-eyed Metropolitan Police declined to allow any such proceedings, and the dossers, knowing the invariable kindness of the City Police, made tracks for that portion of the Embankment which, lying east of the Temple, comes under the control of the Civic Fathers. 1890, William Booth, chapter 3, in In Darkest England and the Way Out:
  3. One who lodges in a doss-house.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
dossers Number=Plur lexicographic

Synonyms

shirker · lollygagger · dosser · good-for-nothing · goof-off · faineant · laggard · waster · slacker · do-nothing · loiter-sack · lazybones · sofa spud · dogfucker · deadbeat · slug · poop · morepork · loafer · flaneur · wastrel · sluggard · bum · lounge lizard · footler · dawdler · lallygag · shirker · truant · couch potato · sluggabed · slow belly · get-nothing · lounger · slugabed · idleton · skiver · slugabug · lie-abed · ne'er-do-well · do-naught · ragabash · goldbricker · lazy ass · lazy louse · layabout · idler · slob · slug-a-bed · wasteman · tarrier · lidderon

dosser en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • /ˈdɒsə(ɹ)/
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Late Latin dosserum, or French dossier (“bundle of papers, part of a basket resting on the back”), from Latin dorsum (“back”). See dorsal.

Meanings

  1. (obsolete) A pannier or basket.
    • To hire a ripper's mare, and buy new dossers. 1626 February 13 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Noble Gentleman”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene i:
  2. (obsolete) A hanging tapestry; a dorsal.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
dorsel alternative lexicographic
dossers Number=Plur lexicographic
dorser alternative lexicographic