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clipper

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See also: Clipper

English

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a fully-rigged clipper

Etymology

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From Middle English clipper, equivalent to clip (“cut, shorten”) +‎ -er (suffix forming agent nouns).[1][2] The type of sailing ship is probably also from clip, in the sense of “move or run rapidly”.[2] Perhaps influenced by Middle Dutch klepper (“swift horse”), from kleppen (“to clap”), which is onomatopoeic.[2][3]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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clipper (plural clippers)

  1. Anything or anyone that clips.
    • 1967, Agatha Christie, chapter 1, in Endless Night, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, published 1968, →LCCN, book 1, pages 2 and 5:
      Yes, perhaps I’d better begin there, at the moment when I […] asked a question carelessly enough of one of the locals, who was clipping a hedge in a desultory fashion nearby. […] When I passed my hedge clipper again, he said, […]
  2. (chiefly in the plural) A tool used for clipping something, such as hair, coins, or fingernails.
  3. Something that moves swiftly; especially:
    1. (nautical) Any of several forms of very fast sailing ships having a long, low hull and a sharply raked stem.
    2. (informal) An Alberta clipper.
  4. (entomology) An Asian butterfly of species Parthenos sylvia, family Nymphalidae.
  5. (electronics) A circuit which prevents the amplitude of a wave from exceeding a set value.
  6. (historical) A person who mutilates coins by fraudulently paring the edges.
    • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
      Indeed, the French may lay twenty French crowns to one, they will beat us; for they bear them on their shoulders: but it is no English treason to cut French crowns, and to-morrow the king himself will be a clipper.
    • 1781, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal‎[1], London: J. Bew, act II, page 21:
      Many a wretch who has been drawn upon a hurdle, has done less mischief than those barterers of forged lies, coiners of scandal, and clippers of reputation.
    • 2010, James Morrow, The Last Witchfinder:
      Surtouts billowing in an unseasonably fierce wind, the ursine Chelmsford magistrate and his equally bulky constable herded their bound prisoners – three murderers, three thieves, a coin clipper, two convicted witches – across the Common […]
  7. (slang) A confidence trickster; a conman.
  8. (slang, obsolete) Anything showy or first-rate.
    • 1838, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Clockmaker:
      Well, he was courtin' Sister Sall. She was a real handsum looking gal; […] a real clipper, and as full of fun and frolic as a kitten.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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Verb

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clipper (third-person singular simple present clippers, present participle clippering, simple past and past participle clippered)

  1. (transitive) To cut or style (the hair) using clippers.
    • 2020 November 16, Dave Finlay, “Killer sliced open inmate's face while serving life for murdering dad and cutting up body”, in Glasgow Live‎[2]:
      Rocks was having his hair clippered by another prisoner when Collins calmly walked past and sliced open the side of his face without breaking his stride.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ “clipper, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “clipper (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. ^ Walter W[illiam] Skeat (1910) “CLIPPER”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new (4th) revised and enlarged edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the Clarendon Press, published 1963, →OCLC, page 114, column 2: “CLIPPER, a fast horse, a fast ship. (Du.) Modem; modified from Du. klepper, a steed.—Du. kleppen, to clap; with reference to the noise of hoofs.”

Anagrams

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French

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Etymology 1

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From English clipper.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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clipper m (plural clippers)

  1. (nautical) heavy sailing ship
  2. (aviation) transatlantic airplane

Etymology 2

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From clip.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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clipper

  1. (transitive) to clip
Conjugation
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Conjugation of clipper (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple clipper
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple clippant
/kli.pɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle clippé
/kli.pe/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present clippe
/klip/ 		clippes
/klip/ 		clippe
/klip/ 		clippons
/kli.pɔ̃/ 		clippez
/kli.pe/ 		clippent
/klip/
imperfect clippais
/kli.pɛ/ 		clippais
/kli.pɛ/ 		clippait
/kli.pɛ/ 		clippions
/kli.pjɔ̃/ 		clippiez
/kli.pje/ 		clippaient
/kli.pɛ/
past historic2 clippai
/kli.pe/ 		clippas
/kli.pa/ 		clippa
/kli.pa/ 		clippâmes
/kli.pam/ 		clippâtes
/kli.pat/ 		clippèrent
/kli.pɛʁ/
future clipperai
/kli.pʁe/ 		clipperas
/kli.pʁa/ 		clippera
/kli.pʁa/ 		clipperons
/kli.pʁɔ̃/ 		clipperez
/kli.pʁe/ 		clipperont
/kli.pʁɔ̃/
conditional clipperais
/kli.pʁɛ/ 		clipperais
/kli.pʁɛ/ 		clipperait
/kli.pʁɛ/ 		clipperions
/kli.pə.ʁjɔ̃/ 		clipperiez
/kli.pə.ʁje/ 		clipperaient
/kli.pʁɛ/
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present clippe
/klip/ 		clippes
/klip/ 		clippe
/klip/ 		clippions
/kli.pjɔ̃/ 		clippiez
/kli.pje/ 		clippent
/klip/
imperfect2 clippasse
/kli.pas/ 		clippasses
/kli.pas/ 		clippât
/kli.pa/ 		clippassions
/kli.pa.sjɔ̃/ 		clippassiez
/kli.pa.sje/ 		clippassent
/kli.pas/
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — clippe
/klip/ 		— clippons
/kli.pɔ̃/ 		clippez
/kli.pe/ 		—
compound — simple imperative of avoir + past participle — simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle —
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

References

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  • Nouveau Petit Larousse illustré. Dictionnaire encyclopédique. Paris, Librairie Larousse, 1952, 146th edition

Further reading

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