chipper
UK/ˈtʃɪpə/US/ˈt͡ʃɪpɚ/
chipper adjective: exhibiting a lively optimism; in high spirits, cheerful.
Adjective
chipper (comparative chipperer, superlative chipperest)
- Exhibiting a lively optimism; in high spirits, cheerful.
- Van Halen orders garlic strewn about Lucy's bedroom. she feels a bit chipperer the next morning, so Mina heads off to help poor Harker in Budapest.2013, Michelle Witte, Faker's Guide to the Classics, page 66
- The idea of a merchant selling both totems of pure evil and frozen yogurt (he calls it frogurt!) is amusing in itself, as is the idea that frogurt could be cursed, but it’s really the Shopkeeper’s quicksilver shift from ominous doomsaying to chipper salesmanship that sells the sequence.2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in AV Club
Noun
chipper (plural chippers)
- Someone who or something which chips (e.g. wood).
- Used for chopping large blocks of chocolate into small pieces, a chocolate chipper looks like a large fork with six thin, very sharp, pointed metal fingers. To use the chipper, hold it straight up and down and press it firmly[…]2012 December 4, Carole Bloom, Truffles, Candies, and Confections: Techniques and Recipes for Candymaking [A Cookbook], Ten Speed Press, →ISBN, page 14
- A machine that reduces organic matter to compost; depending on size, whole tree trunks are reduced to sawdust; a woodchipper.
- NR workers feed the cleared vegetation into a chipper.2025 March 5, David Stubbings, “Network News: NR wages war on Welsh vegetation encroachment”, in RAIL, number 1030, page 21, image caption
- A machine that chips potatoes into pieces that are ready to be fried and made into chips.
- A fish and chip shop, or more generally a cheap fast food outlet, typically selling chips and other deep-fried foods.
- 'Yes, and CCTV on the drink link and at Fabio's chipper.'2023, Sam Blake, The Mystery of Four
- Synonyms:
- chippy, greasy spoon, hole-in-the-wall
- A company that manufactures potato chips/potato crisps.
- Bichel asked chippers several thought-provoking questions about potato procurement, storage and handling.1974, Potato Chipper, volume 33, numbers 16-27, page 25
- Pet Inc.'s Laura Scudder division, a West Coast region chipper, has revamped its Dittos brand stack chips.1978, Joan Dye Gussow, The Feeding Web: Issues in Nutritional Ecology, page 151
- A player who chips the ball.
- A golf club for making chip shots.
- A deep frier.
- An occasional tobacco user, or more generally drug user.
- Killer.
Verb
chipper (third-person singular simple present chippers, present participle chippering, simple past and past participle chippered)
Examples of chipper in a sentence
- The chipper was a bit scabby on the vinegar today.
- Reynolds’ character, called simply Guy, is an unyieldingly chipper everydude who greets each morning with a smile.
- Data about mental health suggests that even the most preternaturally chipper among us have tasted the Joker pill during the pandemic.
Synonyms of chipper
Forms of chipper
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | chipperer |
| superlative | chipperest |
| Noun | |
| plural | chippers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | chippers |
| present participle | chippering |
| past participle | chippered |
| past | chippered |
Origin of chipper
From English dialectal kipper (“nimble; frisky”), of obscure origin. Perhaps akin to Old Norse kjapt (“briskly; impetuously”), kippa ("to snatch; pull; jerk" > Middle English kippen (“to seize”)), kipra (“to wrinkle; draw tightly”), Norwegian kjapp (“fast; brisk”), Dutch kippen (“to seize; catch; grip”). More at kip.
From chip + -er.
Compare cheep, chirp.
Words formed from chipper
Phrases with chipper
Words that rhyme with chipper
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about chipper
- What does chipper mean?
- Chipper means exhibiting a lively optimism; in high spirits, cheerful.
- What part of speech is chipper?
- Chipper can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce chipper?
- Chipper is pronounced /ˈt͡ʃɪpɚ/ (US).
Words near chipper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: chipper (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-chipper.ogg.
Cite this entry: “chipper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chipper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.