A Quick and Simple Dictionary

Spencer

1. Proper noun.  (surname, A An) from someone worked in a spense (larder of medieval monastery).
2. Proper noun.  (given name, male) transferred from the surname, in regular use since the nineteenth century.
3. Noun.  A short, close-fitting jacket primarily worn by women and children in the early nineteenth century; probably named after George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834).
4. Noun.  A thin knitted woollen vest.
5. Noun.  A large loose-fitted gaffsail on a square-rigger or barque, used from the nineteenth century onwards.