Fother
Fother , noun
[Old English fother, foder, Anglo-Saxon fō{not transcribed}er a cartload; akin to German fuder a cartload, a unit of measure, Old High German fuodar, Dutch voeder, and perh. to English fathom, or compare Sanskrit pātrā vessel, dish. Compare Fodder a fother.]
1.
A wagonload; a load of any sort. [Obsolete]
Of dung full many a fother.
2.
See Fodder, a unit of weight.
Fother , transitive verb
[Compare Fodder food, and German futtern, futtern, to cover within or without, to line. r75.]
To stop (a leak in a ship at sea) by drawing under its bottom a thrummed sail, so that the pressure of the water may force it into the crack. — Totten