"holer" meaning in Middle English

See holer in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /(h)uˈleːr/, /ˈ(h)ulər/, /(h)uˈluːr/, /ˈ(h)ulur/ (note: influenced by -our) Forms: holers [plural], holour [alternative], holur [alternative, Late-Middle-English], hollowr [alternative], hullowre [alternative], huler [alternative], holyer [alternative, Kent]
Etymology: Borrowed from Old French holier, dissimilatory variant of horier, from Old High German huorāri (modern Hurer), from Proto-West Germanic *hōrārī; in later Middle English remodelled on the suffix -our. First attested in c. 1235. Etymology templates: {{bor+|enm|fro|holier}} Borrowed from Old French holier, {{der|enm|goh|huorāri}} Old High German huorāri, {{der|enm|gmw-pro|*hōrārī}} Proto-West Germanic *hōrārī, {{etydate|c|1235}} First attested in c. 1235 Head templates: {{head|enm|noun|g=|g2=|g3=|head=|sort=}} holer, {{enm-noun}} holer (plural holers)
  1. A whoremonger or lecher; an adulterous or sexually unrestrained man.
    Sense id: en-holer-enm-noun--Dh9BRJ3 Categories (other): Sex Disambiguation of Sex: 100 0
  2. (rare, figurative) An adulterator (of God's word) Tags: figuratively, rare
    Sense id: en-holer-enm-noun-nDvB1x1v Categories (other): Pages with 4 entries, Pages with entries, Middle English entries with incorrect language header, Ethics, Male people Disambiguation of Pages with 4 entries: 31 8 7 55 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 29 5 4 62 Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 11 89 Disambiguation of Ethics: 8 92 Disambiguation of Male people: 43 57

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "holier"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Old French holier",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "goh",
        "3": "huorāri"
      },
      "expansion": "Old High German huorāri",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*hōrārī"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *hōrārī",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "c",
        "2": "1235"
      },
      "expansion": "First attested in c. 1235",
      "name": "etydate"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Old French holier, dissimilatory variant of horier, from Old High German huorāri (modern Hurer), from Proto-West Germanic *hōrārī; in later Middle English remodelled on the suffix -our. First attested in c. 1235.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "holers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "holour",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "holur",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "Late-Middle-English"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "hollowr",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "hullowre",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "huler",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "holyer",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "Kent"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "noun",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "head": "",
        "sort": ""
      },
      "expansion": "holer",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "holer (plural holers)",
      "name": "enm-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "100 0",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "enm",
          "name": "Sex",
          "orig": "enm:Sex",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A whoremonger or lecher; an adulterous or sexually unrestrained man."
      ],
      "id": "en-holer-enm-noun--Dh9BRJ3",
      "links": [
        [
          "whoremonger",
          "whoremonger"
        ],
        [
          "lecher",
          "lecher"
        ],
        [
          "adulterous",
          "adulterous"
        ],
        [
          "sexually",
          "sexually"
        ],
        [
          "unrestrain",
          "unrestrain"
        ],
        [
          "man",
          "man"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "31 8 7 55",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 4 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "29 5 4 62",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 89",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "8 92",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "enm",
          "name": "Ethics",
          "orig": "enm:Ethics",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "43 57",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "enm",
          "name": "Male people",
          "orig": "enm:Male people",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An adulterator (of God's word)"
      ],
      "id": "en-holer-enm-noun-nDvB1x1v",
      "links": [
        [
          "adulterator",
          "adulterator"
        ],
        [
          "God",
          "God#English"
        ],
        [
          "word",
          "word#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(rare, figurative) An adulterator (of God's word)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "rare"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/(h)uˈleːr/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈ(h)ulər/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/(h)uˈluːr/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈ(h)ulur/",
      "note": "influenced by -our"
    }
  ],
  "word": "holer"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle English lemmas",
    "Middle English nouns",
    "Middle English terms borrowed from Old French",
    "Middle English terms derived from Old French",
    "Middle English terms derived from Old High German",
    "Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic",
    "Pages with 4 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "enm:Ethics",
    "enm:Male people",
    "enm:Sex"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "holier"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Old French holier",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "goh",
        "3": "huorāri"
      },
      "expansion": "Old High German huorāri",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*hōrārī"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *hōrārī",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "c",
        "2": "1235"
      },
      "expansion": "First attested in c. 1235",
      "name": "etydate"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Old French holier, dissimilatory variant of horier, from Old High German huorāri (modern Hurer), from Proto-West Germanic *hōrārī; in later Middle English remodelled on the suffix -our. First attested in c. 1235.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "holers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "holour",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "holur",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "Late-Middle-English"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "hollowr",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "hullowre",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "huler",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "holyer",
      "tags": [
        "alternative",
        "Kent"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "noun",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "head": "",
        "sort": ""
      },
      "expansion": "holer",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "holer (plural holers)",
      "name": "enm-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A whoremonger or lecher; an adulterous or sexually unrestrained man."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "whoremonger",
          "whoremonger"
        ],
        [
          "lecher",
          "lecher"
        ],
        [
          "adulterous",
          "adulterous"
        ],
        [
          "sexually",
          "sexually"
        ],
        [
          "unrestrain",
          "unrestrain"
        ],
        [
          "man",
          "man"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Middle English terms with rare senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An adulterator (of God's word)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "adulterator",
          "adulterator"
        ],
        [
          "God",
          "God#English"
        ],
        [
          "word",
          "word#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(rare, figurative) An adulterator (of God's word)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "rare"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/(h)uˈleːr/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈ(h)ulər/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/(h)uˈluːr/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈ(h)ulur/",
      "note": "influenced by -our"
    }
  ],
  "word": "holer"
}

Download raw JSONL data for holer meaning in Middle English (2.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Middle English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-02-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.