Definition of "fryer"

The dolphin was also borne by the family of Fryer, with reference, as Mr. Moule suggests, to the fry or swarm of fishes (or was not their ancestor an excellent fryer of fish?); […]

1842 June, “Heraldry of Fish. Notices of the principal Families bearing Fish in their Arms. By Thomas Moule. […]”, in The Gentleman’s Magazine, volume XVII, London: William Pickering; John Bowyer Nichols and Son, page 611, column 1

The sale is conducted on the principle of what is termed a “Dutch auction,” purchasers not being allowed to inspect the fish in the doubles before they bid. Offal is bought only by the “fryers.”

1858 May 1, George Augustus Sala, “Twice Round the Clock, or The Hours of the Day and Night in London”, in The Welcome Guest: A Magazine of Recreative Reading for All, London: Office […], page 7, column 1

Of course this may be true, this story of the fryer of fish in the square San Antonio, but the man may have been lying to me—that is, “stringing” me, as we say.

1926, George Wharton Edwards, Spain, Penn Publishing Company, page 325

Ernest Gilpin, employed in the Summer White House kitchen at Cedar Island Lodge, wrote the Milwaukee Circuit Court that he would be unable to appear to answer charges of desertion and cruelty filed by his wife. He said to do so might cost him his job as a fryer of fish for the President.

1928 July 10, “Coolidge Cook Too Busy to Answer Divorce Suit: Milwaukee Court Accepts Mailed Excuse But Orders Him to Pay Wife $12 a Week”, in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, volume 80, number 307, St. Louis, Mo., page 1, column 4

Now I'm an excellent fryer of eggs, and the way I do it - do you want to know how I do it?

1943, Radio Broadcasts, page 2

Clark is especially pleased when someone mentions his skill in the kitchen. “I am a great hot-cake cooker,” he says, warming up to his subject, “and I am one of the greatest dishwashers in the country. I am also one of the greatest fryers of chicken in the country, and I toss up a dandy fruit salad—grapefruit, oranges, pineapple and bananas, with French dressing. I really fix it up.”

1945 September 29, Jack Alexander, “The President’s New Lawyer”, in The Saturday Evening Post, volume 218, number 13, page 10, column 1

It seemed that here was a young lady who, while willing to accept three pounds a week for decorating the stage of the Winter Garden for a season or two, very definitely had other fish to fry. She was, as a fryer of fish, to make quite a name for herself.

1954, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, chapter 13, in Bring On the Girls: The Improbable Story of Our Life in Musical Comedy, with Pictures to Prove it, London: Herbert Jenkins Ltd., page 175

‘I might not be the best fryer of fish,’ said Alexis’ voice from beside her, ‘but I am considered a very good hand as a maker of salads.’

1990, Mons Daveson, Paradise Island, Harlequin, page 55

My grandmother McGinness (whom I called “Nana") was an ardent bird-watcher and a dedicated catcher, filleter, and fryer of fish.

1997, “Mary Mackey”, in Contemporary Authors Autobiography, Gale, pages 202–203

Michelangelo was an excellent fryer of eggs, a real master with a skillet, far better than I was.

2001, AnnieMae Robertson, Murder Sets the Scene, Writers Club Press, page 50

In the same vein is what happened once concerning a man who was a fryer of fish by trade.

2007, Humphrey Taman Davies, editor, Yūsuf Al-S̲h̲irbīnī’s Kitāb Hazz Al-quḥūf Bi-Sharḥ Qaṣīd Abī Shādūf: English Translation, Introduction and Notes, Peeters Publishers, page 279