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pannier, n.1

DRAFT REVISION Dec. 2009

Brit. /pan/, U.S. /pænjr/, /pænir/  Forms: . ME paner, ME panere, ME paneyer, ME panare, ME paner, ME panere, ME panyere, ME panyer, ME panyher, ME paunyar, ME paynar, ME payneere, ME payner, ME payngnier, ME-15 17 panyar, ME-16 panyer, ME-17 pannyer, ME- panier, 15 pannear, 15 paniod, 15-16 paniar, 15- pannier, 16 panniar; also Sc. pre-17 paneour, pre-17 panigear, pre-17 panigeour; N.E.D. (1904) also records a form lME panar.. 16 paniard, 16 panniard, 16-17 panyard, 16-17 panyerd.. Sc. pre-17 panell, pre-17 panyeal, pre-17 panyhell. [< Anglo-Norman panier, paner, panere and Old French, Middle French, French panier (c1170) < classical Latin pnrium PANARY n.; compare -IER suffix. Compare post-classical Latin panerium, panerius (from late 12th cent. in British sources), Old Occitan panier (mid 12th cent., Occitan panier), Catalan paner (c1360), Italian paniere (late 13th cent.).
  In sense 4 probably after French panier (1690 in this sense). In sense 5 probably partly a reborrowing of French panier (1720 in this sense).
  It is uncertain whether the following should be taken as showing the Middle English or the Anglo-Norman word:
  1278-9 in P. D. A. Harvey Manorial Rec. Cuxham (1976) 131 In j panier empto ob. q. 1290 in Archaeologia (1806) 15 354 Pro uno paner gurnardi..iiij s. c1356 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1899) II. 558 In uno pari de Panyars..pro coquina.
  With the forms compare -ARD suffix.] 

    I. A basket or container used for transportation.

    1. a. A basket; esp. a large basket for carrying foodstuffs or other commodities. Now chiefly: spec. a basket carried by a beast of burden (usually one of a pair placed one on either side of its back) or on a person's shoulders. Also: such a basket together with its contents.

c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 813 He..cast a panier on his bac, With fish giueled. 1381 in L. Morsbach Mittelengl. Originalurkunden (1923) 5 A semsadel, a cartsadel and ii grete panieres. c1450 (c1380) CHAUCER House of Fame 1939 Al thys hous..Was mad of twigges..Swiche as men..maken of these panyers. a1475 (?a1430) LYDGATE tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) 21050 Vp-on hyr hed, a gret paner. a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Rom. (BL Add. 9066) 414 All thofe I solde the e fyshe, I solde the not the panyere. 1578 H. LYTE tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball IV. lii. 511 The frayle Rushe..they vse to make figge frayles and paniers therwithall. 1598 R. HAKLUYT Princ. Navigations (new ed.) I. 488 Baskets made like bakers panniers. 1636 in Farington Papers (1856) 14, 6 Loads of fresh fishe. 1 Barrell of Sturdgeon. 3 panniers of Sea ffowle. 1 pannier of Moore-Poults and Partridges. a1656 J. USSHER Ann. World (1658) vi. 272 Beasts of..carriage, some for pack~saddles, and some for panniards. 1698 J. FRYER New Acct. E.-India & Persia 309 Kedgways, or Wooden-Houses, one on each side of a Camel, tied like Panniers 1727 J. GAY Fables I. xxxvii. 125 Betwixt her swagging panniers' load A farmer's wife to market rode. 1754 E. BURT Lett. N. Scotl. II. xviii. 66 His Horse loaden with Creels, or small Panniers. 1859 THACKERAY Virginians xxii, A costermonger with his donkey and a pannier of cabbage. 1886 T. H. HALL CAINE Son of Hagar (1887) I. I. i. 21 Mounted on a pony that carried its owner on a saddle immediately below its neck, and a pair of panniers just above its tail. 1946 W. S. MAUGHAM Then & Now xii. 66 The lane..was so narrow that a donkey with panniers could hardly have scraped its way through. 1984 F. KUPPNER Bad Day for Sung Dynasty cxi. 37 One carries a huge pannier of rice upon his shoulders. 1993 Beaver Oct.-Nov. 6/2 Peats from the hill and grain for the mill could be carried on horseback, in panniers slung from wooden clibber saddles.

    b. The amount contained in a pannier. Obs.

1714 French Bk. Rates 43 Glass in Metal per Cart-load, containing 4 Panniers. 1880 B. DISRAELI Endymion I. xi. 89 The gardener's wife..threw..a pannier of cones upon the logs.

    2. Mil.

    a. A large covered basket or case for holding surgical instruments, medicines, etc., usually one of a pair placed on either side of the back of a mule, etc. Also more fully field pannier. Now hist.
  Quot. 1895 refers to a presumed misapprehension by Sidney Herbert in 1854, although in fact Herbert was using pannier in a different sense (see quot. 1854 at sense 2b).

1854 Times 21 Feb. 10/2 The latter have supplied 12 large medicine chests and 30 panniers, to be carried on mules and donkeys, and neatly packed with every description of medical and surgical appliance. 1859 Times 14 Sept. 10/1 Improved medical field panniers... The baskets hitherto in use have been found deficient... The new panniers are like M. Houdini's inexhaustible bottle... By a simple contrivance, each pannier being furnished with a double lid, an excellent operating table may be..set up. 1895 E. WOOD Crimea in 1854 & 1894 11, I suppose it would be difficult now to find any one in the House of Commons, who could mistake a medical pannier, i.e. a covered basket for holding surgical instruments and drugs, for an ambulance. 1918 E. S. FARROW Dict. Mil. Terms 431 Panniers,..the cases used for carrying medicines. 1992 R. A. GABRIEL & K. S. METZ Hist. Mil. Med. III. v. 173 The regimental hospital [in the Crimea]..was equipped with only twelve beds with blankets and sheets, a medical chest, and a pannier for horse carriage of medical supplies.

    b. A wicker cradle carried by a mule, etc., (usually one of a pair placed one on either side of its back) for the conveyance of the wounded. Obs.

1854 S. HERBERT in Hansard 25 July 719 Almost the first thing upon which my eye glanced was forty pair of panniers, for the conveyance of the sick. 1880 A. W. KINGLAKE Invasion of Crimea VI. ii. 7 He was carried in the invalid's pannier. 1882 Times 20 July 6/2 Special bed litters, as well as chair litters, are being prepared for carriage by mules as panniers.

    3. A bag or other container attached beside one or other of the wheels of a bicycle, motorcycle, etc. (usually one of a pair positioned one on either side of the rear wheel). Also pannier bag.

1939-40 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 783/3 Cycle accessories..pannier bags and carriers. 1959 I. JEFFERIES Thirteen Days (1961) i. 9, I was forced to pull off the road... I had a bottle of cold beer..in the pannier. 1975 J. WOOD North Kill x. 139 The speaker kicked his bike into life... The others were storing their cleaning materials into side pannier bags. 1992 Bicycle Feb. 77/1 The rear panniers have a combined capacity of 7 litres, while the front bag has seven.

    II. Extended uses.

    4. Archit. = CORBEIL n. 2. Obs.
  In quot. 1842 corbel is app. a misprint for corbeil, as the glossary s.v. gives only the latter form.

1781-6 Chambers's Cycl., Pannier, in Architecture. See Corbel. 1842 J. GWILT Encycl. Archit. Gloss., Pannier, the same as Corbel. [Also in later dictionaries.]

    5. Originally: either of a pair of frames of whalebone, cane, etc., used to expand the skirt of a woman's dress at the hips. Later more generally: either of a pair of similar extensions to the sides of a dress or skirt, whether constructed around a frame, built up with padding, etc. In early use also: a part of a skirt bunched or looped up at the back and sides; a bustle (obs.). Cf. HOOP n.¹ 6.
  See also Compounds 3.
  Such frames were fashionable in France in the 18th cent., when however the usual English term was hoop. In quot. c1739 the term is used with (perhaps ironic) allusion to the French fashion, but in a different sense reflecting a practice of having manservants dressed in elaborate uniforms and referring to the use of additional material pleated into the skirts of a man's coat and stiffened to make it fan out at the sides. See also:1856 F. SAUNDERS Salad for Social 127 The most ludicrous of these alterations were the triangular-shaped hoops..and the ‘pocket-hoops’, which looked like nothing so much as panniers on the side of a donkey.

[c1739 J. NIXON Let. in E. Hamilton Mordaunts (1965) viii. 170 Imagin you see me strutting in a brown Cloath with Coat adorn'd with a double Row of Gold Buttons and swelling out with Paniers of a proper Extent on both sides, a drop Wig on my Head, [etc.].] 1796 M. WOLLSTONECRAFT Let. Sweden, Norway & Denmark xxii. 235 Marguerite, it is true, was much amused by the costume of the [Danish] women; particularly by the panier which adorned both their heads and tails. 1869 Sci. Amer. 9 Jan. 26/1 The panier now so generally worn will serve to cushion the seat. 1869 Atlantic Monthly May 537/1 Paniers, do you say? Paniers first came in, I believe, about six months after the marriage of Louis XV. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 472/2 Dresses..began to be made very full round the hips by means of large padded rolls; and these were still more enlarged by a monstrous arrangement of padded whalebone and steel, which subsequently became the ridiculous ‘paniers’ that were worn almost down to the present century. 1879 F. HUGHES & M. HOLMES Our German Senator (MS) II. 6 Gracious! My panier's falling off... Have you a pin? 1902 Daily Chron. 11 Jan. 8/3 Paniers are among the very latest dress importations received in London. They..have been used on a gown of mahogany brown velvet in the form of a tunic, opened in front to show a petticoat, with sides sweeping into a train at the back. 1924 Times 14 Jan. 9/4 A small collection of attractive tea frocks in Nottingham lace..with low waist and side panniers. 1980 E. JONG Fanny II. ii. 182 The sly old Fox,..telling me I was slender enough to share one [chair] with her, bounded into the Chair first, lifted her Panniers and Petticoats to make room, and said, ‘Here, me Love, there's plenty o' Space.’ 1996 Dallas Morning News (Nexis) 10 Apr. 2E, Futurism was a recurring theme. (Think stretch jersey bodysuits with jutting panniers in see-through lucite or polished chrome.)

    6. Civil Engin. A wicker basket containing gravel or earth, used to strengthen the base of a dyke or earth-bank. rare.

a1877 E. H. KNIGHT Pract. Dict. Mech. II. 1602/1 Pannier..(Hydraulic Engineering), a basket or gabion of wicker-work containing gravel or earth,..used in forming a basis for earthy material in the construction of dikes or banks. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 611/2 Pannier, a kind of gabion.

    7. App.: carriage resembling a basket in shape; a basket carriage. Obs. rare.

1880 ‘OUIDA’ Moths xvii. 199 Vere, with her husband, drove in the panier, with four white ponies.

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    COMPOUNDS

    C1. a. pannier basket n.

1740 in Catal. Prints: Polit. & Personal Satires (Brit. Mus.) (1877) III. I. 284 In the Air is an Eagle flying with two *Pannier baskets over its Body. 1892 Jrnl. Amer. Geogr. Soc. 24 488 The..baker rides with two huge pannier baskets full of bread strapped across his sheepskin saddle. 1995 Kay & Co. (Worcester) Catal. Autumn-Winter 1034/3 Metro Police Motorcycle. Pedal drive with removable stabilisers, pannier baskets, mock microphone, antenna and horn with flashing blue light

    pannier-bearer n. Obs. rare

1451 in T. Sharp Diss. Pageants Coventry (1825) 206 e *panerberrer, ij d.

    pannier-maker n.

1412 in F. Collins Reg. Freemen York (1897) I. 119 Petrus Attehall, *panyermaker. 1958 F. WOLFSON Pageant of Ghana (1965) iii. 185 The leather workers, basket and mat makers, saddle and pannier makers, water sellers, women selling various kinds of food.

    pannier rush n. Obs. rare

1578 H. LYTE tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball IV. lii. 511 The fourth [rush] is called in Greke ..: in Frenche Ionc a cabas, that is to say, The frayle Rushe or *panier Rushe.

    b. pannier-shaped adj.

1828 W. KIRBY & W. SPENCE Introd. Entomol. (ed. 2) III. xxx. 229 The larva..constructs a *pannier-shaped cocoon of the parenchyma of leaves.

    C2. pannier bag n. see sense 3.

    pannier herring n. Obs. rare a fresh herring.

1641 S. SMITH Herring-bvsse Trade 19 Fresh or *Pannier Herring.

    pannier-hilt adj. Obs. rare (attrib.) = BASKET-HILTED adj.

a1637 B. JONSON Tale of Tub II. ii. 18 in Wks. (1640) III, Your dun rustie *Pannyer-hilt poinard.

    pannier pocket n. a large pocket attached to the side of a skirt or dress.

1922 J. JOYCE Ulysses II. 482 Those *pannier pockets of the skirt..are devised to suggest bunchiness of hip. 1973 Times 11 Dec. 13/3 Bill's new skirt with its slung pannier pockets is pretty.

    pannier tank n. a small steam locomotive with a protruding water tank on either side of the boiler.

1949 C. J. ALLEN Locomotive Pract. & Performance 20th Cent. vi. 65 Shunting on all railways is entrusted in large measure to small 0-6-0 tanks (*pannier tanks on the Western Region). 1973 Country Life 8 Mar. 593 A type peculiar to the GWRthe pannier tank..these modest 0-6-0 engines, which carried their water in ‘panniers’ at either side of the boiler. 2001 Model Engineer 186 139/1 On the new 7in. track at Chelmsford..his 0-6-0 Great Western pannier tank..performed faultlessly during the day.

    C3. Designating women's garments in which the skirt is expanded or made fuller at the sides, esp. by the use of an additional layer or layers of gathered fabric. Esp. in pannier dress. See sense 5.

1869 Galaxy Mar. 448 The gored dress, with its lines of beauty..no longer delights urbane eyes. It is sent..to the provinces, and instead of it we have the pannier, or hump dress. 1914 Times 12 Aug. 9/7 (advt.) Tea frock, as sketch, in rich chiffon velvet with pannier skirt. 1954 MRS. R. HENREY Month in Paris vii. 54 The rue de Sévigné..leads me to the house of this delightful letter-writer with her powdered hair and pannier dress. 1992 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 20 Feb. C7 Another [gown]..features a strapless lace bodice, detached, off-the-shoulder, puffed sleeves with bows and lace cuffs and a pannier overskirt gathered into side bustles.

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