tarrier

plural tarriers

1. A layabout or loiterer; someone who tarries.
2. UKderogatoryslangA Roman Catholic of Northern Ireland or Scotland.

   Wouldnae even offer Jock Stein – your greatest ever manager – a seat on the board 'cause he wasnae a Tarrier.

   2011, Christopher Brookmyre, The Sacred Art of Stealing

   1 more example

   It was the Irish “tarriers” working on the railroad that provided the context for the folk ballad that began […]

   2015, Peter I. Rose, They and We, page 47

1. comparativecomparative form of tarry: more tarry

plural tarriers

1. obsoleteObsolete form of terrier (“kind of dog”).

   Booth's and Doran's “tarriers” guarded the entrance to the town and drew first blood from a visiting dog: […]

   1914, The Catholic Bulletin and Book Review, volume 4, page 370

   2 more examples

   I then had the two best tarriers beneath the canopy; this poor crater is their daughter," and he patted the dog's head affectionately.

   1843, William Hamilton Maxwell, Wild Sports of the West: With Legendary Tales, and Local Sketches, R. Bentley, page 77

   Why I recollect, a bit ago, having a tarrier dog what got old and disagreeable, and was turned out on that account from a swell house in Belgravy. Well, he come into my hands, and nat'rally I put him on paunch, like the rest. Would he eat it? Not he. He had been used to his chicken, and his mutton chops, and his 'ashes: and he turned up his nose at anything commoner.

   1881, James Greenwood, Low-Life Deeps