sumpter, sompter

& a. [O. Fr. som me tier = a packhorse driver; Fr. sommier, from a Low Lat. * sagmatarius, from Gr. sagma (gen it. sagma tos ) =a packsaddle. The commoner form was somer (q. v.), from O. Fr. somier, sommier, sumer, from some, sau me, sume = a pack, a burden, from Latin sagma; Gr.sagma ] A. As substantive: *1. The driver of a packhorse. *2. A pack, a burden. "What's a husband? What are we married for, to carry sumpters ?" Beaum. & Flet.: Woman's Prize , iii. 8. 3. A packhorse, a baggage-horse; a horse employed to carry clothes, food, or other nece aries on a journey. "Lading his sumpters with plate and treasure of sterling monie." - Holinshed: Chronycle (an. 1247). B. As adj .: Applied to an animal employed to carry nece aries, as of an army; as, a sumpter horse, a sumpter mule; or to its equipments; as, a sumpter saddle. *sump'-tion ( p silent), subst . [Lat. sumptio , from