corner n Cp EDD catch v 2 (3) ~ corner So for sense 2; cp O Sup² sb¹ 16 ~ boy 'loafer' esp Ir (1855-), ADD Nfld for sense 3.
   1 The angle formed by any two walls of a cod-trap; also attrib in names of attachments to this part of the net.
   Q 67-34 Each square that turns the walls or bottoms [of the trap is called a corner]. Ibid Corner ropes [are] ropes fastened to the corner v's and fastened to the end of the doorway, when the doorway is pulled to the side of the boat and the doorway is released. The doorlines passed around the head and stern of the boat and slacked away as required to be assured that the trap is re-set in a fishing position again. P 9-73 From the middle of the spanline four ropes are laid out, one for each corner, long enough so that each corner buoy is far enough away that when it is hauled back and fastened to its respective corner and let out again the trap will be in the shape it should be when set. Ibid At the top, ropes are fastened at each corner as straps to fasten the corner floats that keep the corners of the trap and mooring from sinking.
   2 In pl, children's game of puss-in-the-corner.
   T 375-67 Another game in corners. They had four people in corners and the one who is 'it.' They trade over corners, and if the feller runs [and never gets] there, he's 'it.'
   3 Comb corner boy: 'outport' term for a St John's-man; street-corner lout.
   1862 Daily News 21 Apr, [p. 2] He met with a crowd of corner boys at the foot of Cochrane Street, a spot that has now an unenviable [notoriety], as being the nucleus of rowdies. 1924 ENGLAND 6 By the men's glances at the city dwellers or 'corner boys,' no love seemed lost between them. T 141/166-65² One time he was up there [in St John's] and the corner boys they'd get down aboard the schooner. 1976 Evening Telegram 9 Mar, p. 12 And now everything is changed. You can't tell a bayman from a corner boy, they all talk alike.

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