chaser

plural chasers

1. Something or someone who chases.First known use 14th c.

   One student is the chaser and the other is the chasee. Give the chasee three seconds to get away and then allow the chaser to attempt to tag the chasee.

   2007, David Oatman, Old Favorites, New Fun, page 32

2. equestrianismA horse trained for steeplechasing; a steeplechaser.First known use 14th c.

   "[I]t looked like The Fellow was the best steeplechaser in many years. He'd earned the best speed rating I'd ever given a chaser."

   2002, Nick Mordin, Betting for a Living, page 351

   2 more examples

   "Wild Risk...had his greatest successes as a steeplechaser rather than a flat racer... It is rare indeed that a 'chaser - even one as good as wild risk - makes a good flat sire."

   2003, Avalyn Hunter, American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002, page 458

   Oh, that final furlong! It can be both agony and ecstasy. Anyone who doubts that should have seen the television close-up of Jim Lewis as his great chaser Best Mate came up the final hill at Cheltenham in 2004 to clich a hat-trick of Gold Cups. ... Best mate is the best steeplechaser we have seen for years and all being well will be at the Cheltenham Festival again in 2005 to try and make it four Gold Cups.

   2004, Sports Ticket: Live the Action! by Sportsfile, page 179

3. obsoleteequestrianismA hunter (a horse bred and trained for use in hunting).First known use 15th c.
4. slangA drink consumed after another of a different kind.

   beer chaser

   3 more examples

   straight, no chaser

   Cowboys in high-heeled boots teeter along its sidewalks, or push the swinging doors aside for a shot or two—straight, no chaser.

   1947, John Clarkson Jay, Skiing the Americas, page 115

   All this stuff is blocking us / I'm neat with no chaser / I'm all spirit, but I'm sinking

   2019, “People's Faces”, in The Book of Traps and Lessons, performed by Kae Tempest

5. obsoletetimber industrySomeone who follows logs out of the forest in order to signal a yarder engineer to stop them if they become fouled

   "and the chaser is the fellow whose job it is to follow along after these logs to..."

   1918, United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation: Hearing Before the Committee on Commerce

   2 more examples

   ...on one end known as a Bardon choker hook, to facilitate making a loop. It stays tight and makes it unnecessary for the "chaser" or "choker setter" to follow the "turn" to the landing as might have to be done if tongs are used

   1900, unknown author, Pamphlets on Logging Equipment, page 22

   "A chaser follows the logs to the landing, often riding in a rigging sled hollowed out of a log, which is attached to the rear log. The chaser can signal to the road engineer at any point..."

   1913, Ralph Clement Bryant, Logging: The Principles and General Methods of Operation in the United States, page 219

   Synonyms: frogger

6. timber industryOne who unhooks chokers from the logs at the landing.

   A chaser was the man who unhooked the logs that were yarded in to the spar tree.

   1975, Fred Moira Farrow, Nobody Here But Us: Pioneers of the North, page 170

   2 more examples

   "The rigging slinger hooks the chokers to the main line, the chaser unhooks them at the spar tree."

   1956, Stewart Hall Holbrook, Holy Old Mackinaw: A Natural History of the American Lumber-Jack, page 184

   "When the turn arrives at the landing, the chaser directs the engineer where to drop the turn by hand signals. The chaser then unhooks the chokers, gets in the clear, and singlas to reel in the haulback line".

   1985, John Kenneth Pearce, George Stenzel, Logging and Pulpwood Production, pages 242–243

7. obsoleteslangA piece of music played after a performance while the audience leaves.

   After the final curtain the orchestra played a "chaser" which was music played while the audience members not remaining for the after-show concert left the theatre.

   1969, Robert Dean Klassen, The Tent-repertoire Theatre: A Rural American Institution, page 95

   1 more example

   Films had become a regular feature of the typical vaudeville program, ending most programs and occasionally serving as a “chaser” that encouraged audiences to leave the continuous programs rather than retain their seats to watch them a second time.

   2009, Andre Gaudreault, American Cinema 1890-1909: Themes and Variations, page 113

8. A long piece of flexible wire used to draw an electrical cable through a wall cavity.
9. One of a series of adjacent light bulbs that cycle on and off to give the illusion of movement.
10. A person who guards military prisoners on fatigue duty; a prison guard.

    Synonyms: prison chaser

11. A person who is attracted to and seeks out sexual partners with a particular quality, usually in a fetishistic manner.
    1. slangLGBTQ slangA chaser of transgender people; a tranny chaser.

       These types despise TGentlemen and insist that any man who is interested in TGirls is automatically a troll, a chaser, or just a gay man in denial.

       2016, Michael David Freel, Trans-Oriented: A Guide to Love and Relationships, →ISBN

    2. slangA chaser of overweight or obese people; a chubby chaser.
    3. slangA person who seeks partners with HIV in order to become infected.

       1 more example

       At any given time, there are often dozens of people actively posting online ads as “chasers” or “gifters” in San Francisco and elsewhere around the nation .. Though chasers and gifters are active around the world, many see San Francisco as a kind of mecca .. apps like Grindr and Recon, as well as the website Breeding.Zone, where gifters and chasers share advice and stories about their sexual experiences, make it relatively straightforward to meet people who want to be infected with the virus that causes AIDS — or to infect their partners.

       2016, An Undercover Look Inside the World of HIV Bug Chasers and Gift Givers

       Synonyms: bug-chaser

12. Harry PotterfictionIn the sport of Quidditch or Muggle quidditch, a player responsible for passing the quaffle and scoring goals with it.
13. biologyAny dragonfly of family Libellulidae.

plural chasers

1. Someone who chases (decorates) metal; a person who decorates metal by engraving or embossing.First known use 18th c.

   "Chasing in general can be distinguished from engraving, in that the design can be seen on the reverse or inside of the pieces. Having outlined the pattern on the surface, the chaser cuts and at the same time slightly depresses the surface. A light hammer can be used in this process also."

   1972, Richard Came, Silver, page 7

   2 more examples

   "Mr B., heraldic chaser, says there are several processes in making heraldy plates, sketching, engraving, embossing, chasing and burnishing." "H. & C., manufacturers of cloth and gilt buttons, say it requires some weeks to learn to chase the gilt buttons, which are done with small metal tools and a hammer. Chasers are paid by the piece, working ten hours a day, and some can earn $1 a day."

   1863, Virginia Penny, The Employments of Women: A Cyclopaedia of Woman's Work, page 100

   "Flat chasing in sunken or low relief is a technique by which the ornament is formed by beating down the ground from the front. This is done in essentially the same manner as repoussé work, where the ornament appears in high relief, but the design is punched from the face of the silver plate. ... Sometimes, instead of applying a freehand design, the chaser covers the greased surface with a paper pattern in which the design is pricked with pins."

   1971, George Bernard Hughes, Living Crafts, page 36

2. A tool used for cleaning out screw threads, either as an integral part of a tap or die to remove waste material produced by the cutting tool, or as a separate tool to repair damaged threads.First known use 19th c.

   In Fig. i is shown one of the chasers in the position which it occupies in cutting a thread.

   1894, Machinery (author(s) unknown), page 141

   2 more examples

   "Many screw threads are also finished completely with chasers of this type, although they are not adapted for extremely accurate work unless the teeth are ground after hardening, because the pitch of the chaser teeth is affected more or less by..."

   1918, Franklin Day Jones, Thread-cutting Methods: A Treatise on the Operation and Use of Various Tools and Machines for forming screw threads..., page 32

   "The category of thread cutting tools includes both the single-point and multiple-point [chaser type] lathe cutters."

   1994, Francis T. Farago, Mark A. Curtis, Handbook of Dimensional Measurement, page 467

3. nauticalA chase gun.

   bow chaser; stern chaser