Harborers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. People who offer a place for others to stay safely or find shelter ; individuals who secretly protect or conceal someone from detection or harm
2. Those who give shelter or refuge to others in need ; persons who hide someone deliberately to keep them safe from capture or trouble
3. Individuals providing sanctuary or a safe place for someone to stay ; those who covertly shelter or support someone to prevent their discovery or arrest

Etymology: "Harborers" is simply the plural of "harborer," a noun for people who shelter someone, usually someone being hunted or in trouble. The noun is built from "harbor" with the agent suffix "-er," the same ending that turns "teach" into "teacher" or "bake" into "baker." The "harbor" it starts from is the shelter-giving sense of the word, which is the older and more familiar meaning of "harbor" in this formation. Because the base word already carried the idea of a safe refuge, the suffix only had to name the person providing it. So a "harborer" is, quite literally, someone who keeps others in a place of safety.

Synonyms: shelterers, protectors, hosts