What does "spencer" mean?

Spencer: One who has the care of the spence, or buttery. [Obs.] Promptorium Parvulorum.

Additional senses

  1. 2.A short jacket worn by men and by women. Ld. Lutton.
  2. 3.A fore-and-aft sail, abaft the foremast or the mainmast, hoisted upon a small supplementary mast and set with a gaff and no boom; a trysail carried at the foremast or mainmast; -- named after its inventor, Knight Spencer, of England [1802]. Spencer mast, a small mast just abaft the foremast or mainmast, for hoisting the spencer. R. H. Dana, Jr.

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