ery

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. A dialectal contraction of every.
2. A suffix originally of nouns from the French, but now used freely as an English formative. It is added to nouns, adjectives, and sometimes verbs, to form nouns in which the force of the suffix varies. Originally abstract, denoting the collective qualities of the subject (as in foxery, foolery, goosery, hoggery, witchery, etc.), it has also or only a concrete sense, as in finery, greenery, etc. In a particular phase of this use it denotes a business, as in fishery, grocery, pottery, etc.; hence it came to refer to wares, etc., collectively, as in grocery, now usually in plural groceries, pottery, crockery, etc., and to the place where such wares are made or sold, or to any place of business, as in grocery, pottery, etc., cannery, fishery, tannery, tripery, etc., or to any place where the things represented by the subject are collected, as in fernery, pinery, rockery, etc., especially to places where animals are collected, or to the animals collectively, as in hennery, goosery, rookery, piggery, hoggery, etc. This termination easily associates with -er of whatever origin, especially with -er or -er, denoting a person engaged in business. Compare fisher and fishery, grocer and grocery, potter and pottery, crocker and crockery, tanner and tannery, etc. In many cases it appears syncopated as -ry, especially in the collective use, as in citizenry, Englishry, yeomanry, etc.