kipper
/ˈkɪpə(ɹ)/
kipper noun: a split, salted and smoked herring or salmon.
Noun (1)
kipper (plural kippers)
- A split, salted and smoked herring or salmon.
- A male salmon after spawning.
- A patrol to protect fishing boats in the Irish and North Seas against attack from the air.
- Kipper, I discovered, was airman's slang for a fishing boat. The chief function of this particular station was the escorting of convoys and fishing fleets, and the section which had the latter duty to perform was known as the ‘Kipper Patrol’.1941, L. Walmsley, Fishermen at War
- Kipper-kites, aircraft engaged on convoy escort duties over the North Sea and usually giving protection to the fishing-vessels.1943, J. L. Hunt, A. G. Pringle, Service Slang, page 42
- A torpedo.
- As she was only crawling along I aimed my first ‘kipper’ just a fraction ahead of her bows.1953, Mars Unbroken
- I evaluate its firing power at eighteen torpedoes—I think kipper is a distressing piece of naval slang—in thirty minutes.1959, G. Jenkins, Twist of Sand
- An Englishman who has moved to Australia.
- 1 Kipper, Englishman1946, R. Rivett, Behind Bamboo 397
- An able seaman on a kipper warship called the Eagle.1946 August 8, Sunday Sun (Sydney)
- A young Aboriginal man who has been initiated into to the rights of manhood.
- With these weapons the natives invest their young men at the age of from fourteen to sixteen years... These young men are then called kippers, and for the first time enjoy the privilege of taking an active part in the fight.1841, C. Eipper, German Mission to Aborigines
- Around us sat ‘Kippers’, i.e. ‘hobbledehoy blacks’.1853, H. B. Jones, Adventures Australian, page 126
- An English person.
- A fool.
- Don't push so, 'Liza; you're a-knockin' my 'at off, yer silly kipper!'1899, Laura Ormiston Chant, Sellcuts' Manager, page 253
- 'Marriage during the Emergency isn't for me. I think of Alyson Carew. But carrying on with another officer's wife, well, separated wife; won't it affect my career?' 'Don't be a silly kipper.'2010, Frederick Lees, The Malayan Life of Ferdach O'Haney
- A child or young person.
- Half-a-dozen dreadfully common young bicyclists were commenting on her discomfiture with delighted exclamations of ‘Giddy old Kipper’, ‘Sweet Seventeen’, ‘Cheero, Maudie—you'll win!’1907 April 10, Punch
- If you're enterprizing enough to climb one of the trees christened by usage ‘The Kipper's Tree’, which hardly needs to be translated into plainer terms.1923, M. M. Gibb, Hetherington's Affinity
- The vagina.
Verb
kipper (third-person singular simple present kippers, present participle kippering, simple past and past participle kippered)
- To prepare (a herring or similar fish) by splitting, salting, and smoking.
- There was kippered salmon, and Finnan haddocks, and a lamb's head, and a haggis[…]1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 49, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC
- To damage or treat with smoke.
- "Your own fault. Did you imagine I was going to live on a gasring, because you wouldn't have your chimney repaired?" Then Diva got a tenant in spite of the kippered bathroom, and moved to a dilapidated hovel close beside the railway line, which she got for half the rent which she received for her...1935, Edward Frederic Benson, The Worshipful Lucia, page 252
- “When I was in 23 Squadron,” Mayo said,”we had a pilot who could blow smoke through his ears.” “That doesn't make him dotty,” Goss said. “It might have kippered his brains,” Jimmy Duncan suggested.2011, Derek Robinson, War Story
- To dry out with heat or harsh chemicals; to desiccate.
- She was the daintiest and most exquisite little figure imaginable, never did she stir out of doors without layers of veil to protect her from the kippering effects of sun and wind, and she preserved untouched by unguents or “mess” the complexion of a girl, smooth and soft and unwrinkled.1930, E. F. Benson, As We Were - A Victorian Peep Show
- The beach was littered with palm-thatch umbrellas and half-naked, kippering bodies, and the Marina packed with seagoing craft of every description.1995, Rosamunde Pilcher, Three Complete Novels, page 102
- To drink or give a drink of alcohol, especially to intoxication.
- No man should appear at his day's labors unless well kippered. May I kipper you, madam ”1995, Anne Douglas, Miss Caroline's Deception, page 106
- Come over and have a drink. […] I'm half kippered myself.2009, Rex Beach, The Silver Horde
- To punish by spanking or caning.
- Where of old, with awful mysteries and diabolic din, They “kippered” adolescents in the presence of their kin1902, James Brunton Stephens, The Poetical Works, page 262
- He's liable to get himself kippered on something hairbrained.1985, Stephen Hunter, The Spanish Gambit
- To lead astray or frame; to cause to get into trouble.
- As for Mr. Mowbray you must know that he is not only the chief plotter, inventor, and spreader abroad of all these base calumnies, but he did also, like a fool, vent before his going home, to one whom he though had not been my friend, that he had taken notes of all words spoken by me in Scotland...1877, William Douglas Hamilton, Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, page 511
- (see title)2005 March 16, “Mark Seddon, 'How I was kippered by my party,'”, in The Guardian
- To utterly defeat or humiliate.
- Were the missing crewmen kippered by a squid?2001, Rachel Wright, The True Mystery of the Mary Celeste, page 27
- while clearly holding a banana in front of the proposed kippering victim if he replied with a straight answer to the question then he had been "kippered", and the correct response of the kipperer was to adopt a dramatically pained expression and look away while exhaling heavily, usually following...2004, Jonathan Blyth, Law of the Playground, page 108
Adjective (1)
kipper (comparative more kipper, superlative most kipper)
- Out of season.
- These were kipper salmon, and an acquaintance of mine living at Burton Rowbottom who was trolling for pike at Yoxall, near to King's Bromley, got a run, five years ago, and caught a beautiful salmon weighting 25 lbs.1861, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Reports from Commissioners - Volume 23, page 523
- the milner of Brignall for that he doth usually keep in the back beck a fishlock in the river called Gill Beck, below his mill and the forebeck of another fishlock [sic] above the mill, whereby he taketh and destroyeth much fish, to wit —routs, at his pleasure, and taketh, etc. divers fish when...1888, Great Britain. Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace (North Riding of Yorkshire), John Christopher Atkinson, Quarter Sessions Records - Volume 6, page 43
- Very wide, shaped like a kipper.
- Blades initiated a regeneration in modern British tailoring that from the mid-sixties began by flirting somewhat uneasily with the hippie style -- its most flamboyant exponent being Michael Fish, who opened premises in Piccadilly in 1966, introducing the kipper tie , Russian-style side-fastening...2005, Christoph Grunenberg, Jonathan P. Harris, Summer of Love, page 213
- The trousers became more flared, the ties more kipper, and, the crowning glory (at least I thought so), was thatI was the first in my department to sport a pink shirt.2013, Malcolm Philips, Jobsworth: Confessions of the Man from the Council
Noun (2)
kipper (plural kippers)
- A member or supporter of UKIP (UK Independence Party).
Adjective (2)
kipper (comparative more kipper, superlative most kipper)
- lively; chipper; nimble.
- Thus he goes on, from morn till eve, from season to season, year in and year out, semingly impervious to the weather, being altogether too kipper and grievous to be taken with anything worse than a ' snivelly cold . '1900, Harvey Buxon, Our Remarkable Fledger, page 180
- There's others won't come up so kipper if they daon't easy orf a bit.1929, Geoffrey Dell Eaton, Senator George W. Norris, General William Mitchell, Don C.Seltz, Elisabeth W. Smith, Plain Talk - Volume 5, page 63
Proper noun capitalized: Kipper
Kipper (plural Kippers)
- A surname.
Noun (3) capitalized: Kipper
Kipper (countable and uncountable, plural Kippers)
- A type of fortune-telling cards.
- A supporter or member of UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party).
kipper meaning in Malayalam
kipper in Malayalam
- വരഞ്ഞുണക്കിയ മത്സ്യം, കരുവാട്, ഉപ്പിട്ടുണക്കിയ മത്തി
Examples of kipper in a sentence
- 'Fancy running the risk of getting a kipper [a torpedo] to go with his grub.'2009, Jean Hood, Submarine, page 197:
- English immigrants in Australia] are referred to as Kippers.1963 May 24, Times Literary Supplement:
- You kippers—no guts and two faces—are only strong under the armpits...1967, K. Giles, Death & Mr. Prettyman:
- A ceremony at which the young men […] receive the rank of warriors and are henceforth called Kippers.1885, R. C. Praed, Australian Life:
Forms of kipper
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | kippers |
| plural | Kippers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | kippers |
| present participle | kippering |
| past participle | kippered |
| past | kippered |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more kipper |
| superlative | most kipper |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Kippers |
Origin of kipper
From Old English cypera (“male salmon”), perhaps related to Old English coper (“reddish-brown metal”) (see copper), on resemblance of color. Another theory connects it to kip (“sharp, hooked lower jaw of the male salmon in breeding season”), from Middle English kippen (“to seize, snatch”), but OED doubts this.
Short form of UKIP + -er, influenced by kipper, the type of fish.
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.
Words formed from kipper
Phrases with kipper
Words that rhyme with kipper
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about kipper
- What does kipper mean?
- Kipper means a split, salted and smoked herring or salmon.
- What is kipper in Malayalam?
- Kipper in Malayalam is വരഞ്ഞുണക്കിയ മത്സ്യം, കരുവാട്, ഉപ്പിട്ടുണക്കിയ മത്തി. See Kipper meaning in Malayalam.
- How do you use kipper in a sentence?
- 'Fancy running the risk of getting a kipper [a torpedo] to go with his grub.'
- What part of speech is kipper?
- Kipper can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce kipper?
- Kipper is pronounced /ˈkɪpə(ɹ)/.
- What is the plural of kipper?
- The plural of kipper is kippers.
Words near kipper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kipper (page history and authors); Kipper (page history and authors); kipper (Malayalam Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-kipper.wav, En-us-kipper.oga.
Cite this entry: “kipper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kipper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.