-er, infinitive suffix, as cover, encounter. [Fr, -re, -ir, from L. pres. infin. -āre, -ēre, -ĕre, -īre.]
-er marks the agent, designating persons according to their occupation, as writer, singer, hatter, leader, sometimes changed to -ar, as liar; with -i- or -y- prefixed, as cloth-i-er, law-y-er (where the A.S. primitive substantive ends in ȝ); with excrescent -t or -d, as bragg-ar-t. Note that in the words auger, heifer, shelter, what looks like the suffix -er is really an independent substantive. [A.S. -ere; Goth. -arja, Ger. -er.]
-er, more, used in compar. of adjs., as greater, more. [Aryan compar., suffix -ra.]
-er, noun suffix, as matter, gutter. [Fr. -iere—L. -eria.]
-erel, dim. suffix, as mackerel. [See under -l.]
-erie, place where, as menagerie. [Fr., from L. -arium. See -ery.]
-erly, direction to or from, as southerly. [From -ern and -ly.]
-ern, adj. suffix sig. direction, as southern [A.S. -er-n]; adj. suffix, sig. belonging to, as modern [L. -ernus]; noun suffix, as cistern [L. -erna].
-ery, noun suffix, as brewery, witchery, cutlery. [Noun suffix -y added to nouns in -er (marking agent). See -ary, -erie, -ory.]
-es or -s, pl. suffix, as foxes, hats. [A.S. -as. -s is a general pl. suffix, as L. and Gr. -es.]