stancher

His name was Johnson, and he was in the wine trade; and whether for travelling or whether for staying at home — whether for paying you a visit in your own house, or whether for entertaining you in his — there never was (and I am prepared to maintain there never will be) a stancher friend, choicer companion, or a safer guide than Thomas Johnson.

Tales of all countries 2004

Brace suggested Olmsted, and partly because he thought if Olmsted really travels around the South and sees what's there, it'll -- it'll effect his opinion about slavery and make him a much stancher opponent.

A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmstead & America in the 19th Century 1999

From that time Miss Martin had no stancher friends than Jim and Hetty; and when one day Jim's big brother led her up the aisle of the village church as a bride, there were two young people behind her in white gloves and ribbons who looked almost as bright and happy as the chief actors of the day.

Harper's Young People, March 9, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly Various

Jesse Cummings, of Mesa, was along to act as cook, packer, and horse-wrangler, helped in all three branches by the two elder boys; he was a Kentuckian by birth, and a better man for our trip and a stancher friend could not have been found.

I. A Cougar Hunt on the Rim of the Grand Canyon 1916

And never had Duane bestrode a gamer, swifter, stancher beast.

The Lone Star Ranger 1914

"And I have youth and mining experience and the inside track, as well as stancher friends than he ever dreamed of," laughed Ridgway, clapping the other on the back.

Ridgway of Montana (Story of To-Day, in Which the Hero Is Also the Villain) William MacLeod Raine 1912

There was color in her cheeks and a stancher adjustment of the lines of her face.

Children of the Desert Louis Dodge 1911

Through all of his hilarious experiences at Fardale, Frank had not a stancher adherent.

Frank Merriwell's Reward Burt L. Standish 1905

The canoe and pirogue could handle the packs and kegs brought westward by the files of Indian ponies; but the heavy loads of the Conestoga wagons demanded stancher craft.

The Paths of Inland Commerce; a chronicle of trail, road, and waterway Archer Butler Hulbert 1903

Councel, there never was a stronger or stancher Ship seen.

Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Illustrative Documents 1898