Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SEIZER, n. Sc. hist. usages: 1. A member or officer of a Kirk Session appointed to patrol the parish to notice and report infringements of the Sabbath, absenteeism from Church and similar breaches of Church discipline (Sc. 18th c. H. G. Graham Social Life (1899) I. 92).Ags. 1799 J. Thomson Hist. Dundee (1874) 127:
There were seizers in those days [c.1746]; and boys were not then publicly permitted to infest the streets.Edb. 1825 R. Chambers Traditions (1847) 32:
One of the seizers, in his holy zeal, was enraged at this manifestation of impiety and treason.Sc. 1938 St. Andrews Cit. (26 March) 7:
They [the Town Council] appointed “seizers”, who hunted up people who did not go to church, and had them brought before the Session or even the Court.

2. A manufacturer or merchant or his agent who seizes goods thought to infringe a monopoly or the like enjoyed by the seizer (see quots.). Also attrib.Inv. 1726 Steuart Letter Bk. (S.H.S.) 256:
They [seized goods] are only appretiat here, and rouped in Exchequer, and if no bider for the whole parcell, then they fall in the seizer maker's hands.Edb. 1782 Session Papers, Journeymen v. Master Tailors (21 Sept.) 30:
They take the utmost care that it shall not be in the power of the pursuers to earn one farthing except by their employment for no sooner does business fall slack, than a set of people called Seizers are sent about by the masters, who, if they find a journeyman taylor mending a pair of breeches for a neighbour, immediately seize the work, and carry it off.