DCHP-2

beater bater, beating seal [< beat make one's way with persistence in the face of difficulties + -er] Nfld DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• n.

  a young harp seal whose white coat is beginning to show gray tinges and dark spots.

  See also: bedlamer  whitecoat  

  • 1924  Bater. a beating seal; young migrating seal.
  • 1933  Now [the whitecoats] became the "beaters" of the Seal Hunt, and of certain surety every little head will be pointing for the North.
  • 1966  Baby seals are bought by an English firm and used to make coats; beaters, the harp seals between three weeks and a year old, are bought by a Norwegian firm and used for jackets.