This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.scotland.dnb.general/2615.1.1.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I lived in Bonhill for about 20 years but have since moved. I have no idea on the origin of the word "tearer". Even the shorter OED doesn't help. From "Penny Magazine" of July 1843 "There is to each machine one man to print, and an attendant boy or girl called the 'tearer'. At the outer end of each machine is a small tup or pot containing the colour to be used, and near it a circular trough or drum supported by a water-bed to give it elasticity. The 'tearer' dips a brush into the vessel od colour and spreads a layer on the elastic trough. The printer then takes his engraved block, holding it by a handle at the back; presses it down on the trough, whose elasticity alows every part of the raised device on the block to take up a layer of colour; and then prints a portion of the cloth equal to the size of the block.