chipper

chipper¹ one that chips

Etymology tree of chipper¹

inherited borrowed derived

English chip

Romanian cip

English chipper

From the same root · chipper¹

English microchip ← chip

Etymology

The word for one that chips is formed from English chip + -er,^[1][4][5][2] from the verb, which Etymonline traces to Old English forcippian (“to pare away by cutting”).^[4] Dictionary.com dates it to 1505–15, Merriam-Webster to 1513 and Etymonline to the 1510s.^[6][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A knife for cutting bread or paring its crust: 1508, in the Boke of Keruynge; this sense is obsolete.^[1]

Semantic evolution

From 1590 a chipper was a person who chips something, especially one who shapes a hard material by knocking off small pieces.^[1] Trades gave the word narrower senses: in Derbyshire mining, from 1747, a worker who chipped waste away from the ore; in shipbuilding and founding, from 1856, one who trimmed plates and castings;^[1] and in the turpentine industry of the American South, recorded from 1896, the worker who cuts the trunk so that the resin flows.^[7] From 1879 it named a machine that reduces logs to wood chips,^[1][2] and in the 20th century a golf club or player that chips the ball onto the green (1921, 1923), a potato grown for chips (1961), and an occasional user of narcotics, especially heroin (1967).^[1][8] In 19th-century boxing slang a chipper was a sharp blow.^[8]

Timeline

• 1508 – a knife for paring bread (obsolete).^[1]
• 1590 – a person who chips or shapes a hard material.^[1]
• 1747 – in Derbyshire mining, a worker who chips waste from the ore.^[1]
• 1856 – a worker who trims plates or castings with a chipping tool.^[1]
• 1879 – a machine that breaks wood into chips.^[1]
• 1921 – in golf, a club used for chipping; 1923, a player who chips.^[1]
• 1967 – an occasional user of drugs, especially heroin.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. A machine that reduces branches or logs to small chips, as for mulch; a wood chipper.^[2][1][9]
2. A tool or worker that removes material by chipping, as from castings or stone.^[2][1]
3. (golf) A club used to chip the ball onto the green, or a player who does so.^[1]
4. An occasional user of drugs, especially heroin, who is not addicted.^[1][8]

chipper² to twitter

Etymology

The word for twittering is probably partly from English a variant of chirrup with the r and p swapped, and partly an imitative formation with the frequentative suffix -er, like twitter and chatter.^[1][5] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com instead derive it from chip with -er,^[2][6] and the American Heritage Dictionary (4th edition) calls it a frequentative of chip, in the sense of cheeping.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a bird, to twitter or chirrup: 1593, in John Eliot's Ortho-epia Gallica.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The verb has been chiefly American.^[1] From 1829 it was used of people, for speaking rapidly or excitedly, chattering,^[1][5] and the noun chipper, a twitter, followed in 1844.^[1] In English dialects it meant to chirp in East Anglia, and on the Isle of Wight to talk fast and cheekily, with chippering for impertinence.^[11] A noun chipper of apparently imitative origin named a small bird in Norfolk (1668–1812) and, in North America from 1867, a sparrow, especially the chipping sparrow.^[1]

Timeline

• 1593 – of a bird, to twitter.^[1]
• 1668 – noun, a small bird of Norfolk, perhaps the siskin (obsolete by 1812).^[1]
• 1829 – of a person, to chatter.^[1]
• 1844 – noun, a twitter or chirrup.^[1]
• 1867 – noun, in North America, a sparrow.^[1]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of a bird, to chirp or twitter.^[2][1][5]
2. Of a person, to chatter or babble.^[2][1][5]

chipper³ cheerful

Etymology

The word for cheerful is probably from English a variant of kipper (“light, nimble, lively”), a dialect word of northern England recorded from the 17th century and of unknown origin.^{[1][5][4][12][13]} According to the OED the form with ch probably arose from association with the twittering verb chipper and other words for cheeping, as in “as chipper as a bird”; since chipper is also found in Sussex and Lincolnshire, the OED allows, as much less likely, an old variation like that of church and kirk.^[1] Barnhart notes the view that the adjective goes with the verb, of imitative origin or formed from chirrup;^[14] Green's Dictionary of Slang derives it from a dialect chipper, a cheerful song or friendly chatter,^[8] and Dictionary.com calls the origin uncertain.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cheerful and lively: 1806, in an American manuscript diary.^[1] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1822, Etymonline to 1834 and Barnhart to 1837.^[2][4][14]

Semantic evolution

The adjective began as an Americanism.^[1][4] Benjamin Franklin's "Drinkers Dictionary" of 1737 already listed chipper among words for being drunk.^[8] The simile as chipper as a bird is recorded from 1822,^[1] and 19th-century American writers compared people to a canary, a jay-bird or a skunk blackbird.^[8] In Sussex it was a common dialect word for lively and cheerful,^[11] while the northern kipper meant nimble, in good spirits, or eager.^[11][1] The verb chipper up, to cheer up, is recorded from 1867,^[1] and Mark Twain wrote in Huckleberry Finn (1884) that a swim "chippered them up a good deal".^[8]

Timeline

• 1806 – cheerful and lively.^[1]
• 1822 – as chipper as a bird, very cheerful.^[1][2]
• 1867 – chipper up, to become more cheerful.^[1]
• 1873 – chipper up, to make someone more cheerful.^[1]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Cheerful and lively; in high spirits: He sounded chipper on the phone despite the long journey.^[15][2][1]
2. In good health; vigorous.^[2]
3. Smartly dressed; trim.^[15][2]

Verb

1. chipper up: to cheer up, or to make someone more cheerful.^[1][5][8]