Dictionary

whewer en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ʍjuːə/ non-rhotic; without the wine–whine merger
• /hwjuːə/ non-rhotic
• /hwjuːɚ/ rhotic
• /ʍjuːɚ/ rhotic; without the wine–whine merger

Etymology

Century, Wright's English Dialect Dictionary and the 1933 OED take it to be from whew (“(to make) a shrill whistling sound like the cry of a plover”) + -er, and early cites also call the bird the "whistling widgeon".

Meanings

1. (UK, dialectal) whew duck, Eurasian wigeon, wigeon (Mareca penelope).
   • the choicer fowl of mallard and widgeon (locally "whewers"), both in the Humber and the Tees, the former species being, of course, resident in the county. 1908, Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News, page 172:
   • Widgeons are common in Cambridgeshire, the Isle of Ely, &c. where the male is called the widgeon, and the female, the whewer. They feed upon wild periwinkles, grass, weeds, &c. which grow at the bottom of rivers and lakes. Their flesh has a very delicious taste, not inferior to teal, or wild ducks. 1806, Thomas Smith, The Naturalist's Cabinet: Containing Interesting Sketches of Natural History; Illustrative of the Natures, Dispositions, Manners, and Habits of All the Most Remarkable Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Amphibia, Reptiles, &c. in the Known World, page 217:
   • Boscas, aliis Anas Fistularis … the Whewer, or Whistling Widgeon. 1668, Charleton, Onomast., page 100
   • Peckards 3—broadbills 5—whewers 2 1634, Althorp MS. in Simpkinson, Washingtons (1860), page xxiii
   • With the Fish I have put up in a Box some Water Fowl, viz. a Pocker, a Smew, three Sheldins, a Widgeon, and a Whewer; which two last are Male and Female of the same kind. 1718 [1674], John Ray, Francis Willughby, Philosophical Letters Between the Late Learned Mr. Ray and Several of His Ingenious Correspondents, Natives and Foreigners: To which are Added Those of Francis Willughby Esq, page 21:

Forms