Word.ws English Dictionary

kippering

kippering is the present participle and gerund of kipper.

Noun

kippering (uncountable)

  1. The trait of walking on the front legs while dragging the hind legs (applied to a dog).
    • An owner describes their "endearing habit of nosewrinkling, woo-woo-wooing, and kippering (walking on front legs, sliding rear like a seal)."2011, Chris Walkowicz, Choosing a Dog For Dummies
    • Kippering is a trait in young Sussex where the dog propels themselves forward with their forelegs while dragging their rear legs extended behind them. Some adult dogs will also do this and it is considered normal for the breed.2015, Ross D. Clark, Medical, Genetic & Behavioral Risk Factors of Sussex Spaniels and Clumber Spaniels
  2. The development of an acquired hypospadias, usually as a result of long use of a catheter.
    • The latter is so often remote from where the tube has been that it is difficult to see how any drainage short of “kippering” the patient could eliminate it.1922, Year Book of General Surgery, page 267
    • The suprapubic route (suprapubic catheter [SPC]) is preferred over the urethral because of pressure necrosis of the ventral surface of the distal penile urethra in men (acquired hypospadias —“kippering” of the penis) and pressure necrosis of the bladder neck in women, which becomes so wide that...2010, David M. Albala, Leonard G. Gomella, Allen F. Morey, Oxford American Handbook of Urology

Meaning of kipper

Verb

kipper (third-person singular simple present kippers, present participle kippering, simple past and past participle kippered)

  1. 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
  2. (broadly) 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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 all 24 meanings of kipper

Questions about kippering

What does kippering mean?
Kippering means the trait of walking on the front legs while dragging the hind legs (applied to a dog).
What is kippering the present participle and gerund of?
Kippering is the present participle and gerund of kipper.
What part of speech is kippering?
Kippering is a noun.

Words near kippering in the dictionary

  1. kipper time
  2. kippered
  3. kippered beef
  4. kipperer
  5. kipperers
  6. kippering
  7. kipperish
  8. kipperless
  9. kippernut
  10. kippernuts
  11. kippers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kippering (page history and authors); kipper (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.

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Cite this entry: “kippering.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kippering. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.