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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

TEER, v. Also tear, tier-. In calico-printing: to spread a fresh coat of colour over the sieve or pad of woollen cloth on which the printer presses his block (Sc. 1869 Athenaeum (13 March) 382). Hence teer-boy, teerer, a (young) person who does this, a calico-printer's assistant (wm.Sc. 1842 Children in Trades Report ii. I. 3. teerer, tearer; Rnf. 1899 Country Schoolmaster (Wallace) 354, teerer).Sc. 1814 J. Sinclair Agric. Scot. III. 317:
Callico-printers, Drawers, Engravers, Cutters, Machine-workers, Dyers, Boilers, Teerers, and Pencillers.Slg. 1845 Stat. Acc.² VIII. 384:
Tierers, one to each printer.Gsw. 1863 H. Macdonald Poems 219:
Then he'd stamp, shake the bag in your face, And declare the tear-boy wad dune't better.Sc. 1869 D. Bremner Industries 303:
The paste is managed by a boy, called a “tearer,” who spreads an even coating over a woollen cloth stretched in a frame, and resting on an elastic bed. The printer presses his block on the woollen cloth, and takes up a quantity of paste sufficient for one impression, the “tearer” giving the cloth a fresh coat after each dip.Rnf. 1883 A. G. Murdoch Recent Sc. Poets 156:
He was . . . sent into the printfield as a “teer-boy,” or assistant to a calico printer.Fif. 1998 By Word of Mouth: Scottish Oral History Group newsletter 8:
The term "tear boy" (also spelt "tier") stems from the Scots verb "tear" meaning to spread or plaster. Boys of around fourteen years of age were set to work beside a hand-printer as his tear boy, then eventually his apprentice. His job was to spread the paint on to a pad to allow the printer to print it using an eighteen-inch wooden pad. The boys were not employed by the factory but by the printer. If the printer made a mistake, he still had to pay his tear boy.