DCHP-2

sealer ((1)) 1 Esp. Nfld DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1 n.

  a person taking part in the seal fishery.

  See also: seal fishery  seal hunter (def. 1)  

  • 1770  (1792)  After breakfast we set off homewards, being accompanied by two of the sealers.
  • 1842  The sealers are seen coming from all parts of the country to St. John's, with their bundle of spare clothing over their shoulders, supported by a stick, six or eight feet long, which is to serve as a bat or club to strike the seal on the nose, where he is very vulnerable. . . .
  • 1966  At the end of a hunting day the sealers leave the ice with their skins and the female seals--thousands of them--crawl back on to the ice to the carcasses of their young.

• 2 n.

  a ship engaged in hunting seals.

  See also: seal hunter (def. 2)  soiler  

  • 1829  The crews of 10 sealers, lost in the ice, had been brought into St. John's. . . .
  • 1962  Men from the sealer Algerine pack together pelts from seals they have caught on the last winter's ice.