Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Spencer"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Spencer \Spen"cer\, n. [OF. despensier. See {Spence}, and cf.
{Dispenser}.]
One who has the care of the spence, or buttery. [Obs.]
--Promptorium Parvulorum.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Spencer \Spen"cer\, n. [From the third Earl Spencer, who first
wore it, or brought it into fashion.]
A short jacket worn by men and by women. --Ld. Lutton.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Spencer \Spen"cer\, n. (Naut.)
A fore-and-aft sail, abaft the foremast or the mainmast,
hoisted upon a small supplementary mast and set with a gaff
and no boom; a trysail carried at the foremast or mainmast;
-- named after its inventor, Knight Spencer, of England
[1802].
{Spencer mast}, a small mast just abaft the foremast or
mainmast, for hoisting the spencer. --R. H. Dana, Jr.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Trysail \Try"sail\, n. (Naut.)
A fore-and-aft sail, bent to a gaff, and hoisted on a lower
mast or on a small mast, called the trysail mast, close abaft
a lower mast; -- used chiefly as a storm sail. Called also
{spencer}. --Totten.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
Spencer
n : English philosopher and sociologist who applied the theory
of natural selection to human societies (1820-1903) [syn:
{Spencer}, {Herbert Spencer}]
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