clipper
Syllables: clip·perUK/ˈklɪp.ə/US/ˈklɪp.ɚ/
clipper noun: anything or anyone that clips.
Noun
clipper (plural clippers)
- Anything or anyone that clips.
- 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, […]1967, Agatha Christie, chapter 1, in Endless Night, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, published 1968, →LCCN, book 1, pages 2 and 5
- A tool used for clipping something, such as hair, coins, or fingernails.
- Any of several forms of very fast sailing ships having a long, low hull and a sharply raked stem.
- And those were the days of clippers, and the freights were clipper-freights,1896, Rudyard Kipling, The Mary Gloster
- An Alberta clipper.
- An Asian butterfly of species Parthenos sylvia, family Nymphalidae.
- A circuit which prevents the amplitude of a wave from exceeding a set value.
- A person who mutilates coins by fraudulently paring the edges.
- 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.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...
- 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.1781, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, London: J. Bew, act II, page 21
- A confidence trickster; a conman.
- "You have head enough for both of us, Beck," said he. "You're sure to get us out of the scrape. I never saw your equal, and I've met with some clippers in my time too."1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
- Anything showy or first-rate.
- 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.1838, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Clockmaker
Verb
clipper (third-person singular simple present clippers, present participle clippering, simple past and past participle clippered)
- To cut or style (the hair) using clippers.
- 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.2020 November 16, Dave Finlay, “Killer sliced open inmate's face while serving life for murdering dad and cutting up body”, in Glasgow Live
Proper noun capitalized: Clipper
Clipper (countable and uncountable, plural Clippers)
- A surname from German.
- An unincorporated community in Whatcom County, Washington, United States.
clipper meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
clipper in Hindi
- क्लिपर
clipper in Tamil
- நறுக்கி, கத்தரிப்பவா, துரட்டிகள்
clipper in Marathi
- क्लिपर, क्लिप्पर, क्लिप्परिंग
clipper in Urdu
- باغبانی قینچی
More languagesFewer languages
- clipper in Bengali
- দ্রুতগামী পালতোলা জাহাজ, কাটার যন্ত্র
- clipper in Telugu
- క్లిప్పర్, క్లీపర్, క్లిపర్
- clipper in Malayalam
- ക്ലിപ്പർ, ക്ലിപ്പേർ, ക്ലിപ്പറർ
- clipper in Kannada
- ಕ್ಲಿಪ್ಪರ್, ಕ್ಲೀಪರ್
- clipper in Punjabi
- ਕਲਿੱਪਰ, ਕਲੀਪਰ, ਕਲਿੱਪਰ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- clipper in Gujarati
- ક્લિપર, ક્લિપર કરવા માટે
- clipper in Odia
- କ୍ଲିପର, କ୍ଲିପ୍ପର୍, କ୍ଲିପର୍
- clipper in Nepali
- क्लिपर, क्लिप्पर, क्लिपर गर्न
- clipper in Indonesian
- kliper
Examples of clipper in a sentence
- Our car broke down and we didn't have any tools but Jim MacGyvered it with some toenail clippers and we were able to limp to the service station.
- Don’t skimp when it comes to the nail clippers and cuticle pusher.
- TAI: One time I was using some clippers to trim downstairs and I totally caught my labia.
Forms of clipper
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | clippers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | clippers |
| present participle | clippering |
| past participle | clippered |
| past | clippered |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Clippers |
Origin of clipper
From Middle English clipper, equivalent to clip (“cut, shorten”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns). The type of sailing ship is probably also from clip, in the sense of “move or run rapidly”. Perhaps influenced by Middle Dutch klepper (“swift horse”), from kleppen (“to clap”), which is onomatopoeic.
Americanized spelling of German Klipper.
Words formed from clipper
Phrases with clipper
Words that rhyme with clipper
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about clipper
- What does clipper mean?
- Clipper means anything or anyone that clips.
- What is clipper in Hindi?
- Clipper in Hindi is क्लिपर. See Clipper meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is clipper?
- Clipper can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce clipper?
- Clipper is pronounced /ˈklɪp.ə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of clipper?
- The plural of clipper is clippers.
Words near clipper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clipper (page history and authors); Clipper (page history and authors); clipper (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clipper (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clipper (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clipper (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clipper (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clipper (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clipper (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clipper (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clipper (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clipper (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clipper (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clipper (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-clipper.ogg.
Cite this entry: “clipper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clipper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.