clipper

Etymology

It is formed from English clip + -er,^[2][3][4][5] first as Middle English clippere,^[4][6] from clippen (“to cut, shear”).^[7][5] The verb clip in this sense is probably from Old Norse klippa (“to clip, cut”).^[2][8][5] The ship sense, recorded from the 1820s, is explained by Etymonline and Hoad from the verb clip in the sense "to move quickly";^[5][9][10] Hoad and Onions think it was probably influenced by cutter,^[9][10] and Etymonline suggests influence from Middle Dutch klepper (“swift horse”), which is imitative.^[5] Weekley derived the "swift horse" sense from German Klepper or klepper, in the 16th century a swift trotter, from Middle Low German kleppen (“to resound”), from the sound of the hooves.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who clips coins: about 1330, in Robert Mannyng's Chronicle.^[2][7] The sense "sheep-shearer" follows before 1382, in the Wycliffite Bible,^[2][7] and Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century as "sheep-shearer", noting it as a surname from about 1300.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The agent noun first named people whose work was cutting: coin-clippers, sheep-shearers and barbers, a sense the MED and the OED record in the 15th century.^[7][2] Etymonline notes that in the late 18th century the word chiefly meant someone who cut the edges off coins for the metal,^[5] and Johnson (1755) defined it only so, quoting Henry V.^[12] The plural clippers for shears or scissors dates from 1578.^[2][3] A second line of senses comes from clip, to move swiftly: a fast-sailing ship, at first one of the sharp-built, raking schooners of America and later the Australian passenger ships, recorded from 1823 in Cooper's The Pilot (Etymonline) or 1824 (the OED);^[5][2][13] Etymonline links the early ships with Baltimore, and Bartlett (1848) describes them as small schooners with raking masts, built for speed.^[5][14] From 1836 the word was also used of a swift horse and, as praise, of a first-rate person or thing;^[2] in American slang a clipper was an attractive woman.^[15][16] The name passed to aircraft, especially trans-oceanic flying boats, by 1887,^[2] and in electronics to a circuit that limits the amplitude of signals (1938).^[2][8] In Yorkshire dialect clippers were scissors or shears, and in London and Devon a clipper was also a blow.^[17] In South African slang it is a hundred-rand note.^[18][15]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – one who clips coins.^[2][7]
• 1382 – a sheep-shearer.^[2][7]
• c. 1440 – a barber or hairdresser (now obsolete).^[2][7]
• 1578 – a cutting tool; in the plural, shears or scissors.^[2]
• 1823 – a fast-sailing ship.^[5] The OED's first record is from 1824.^[2]
• 1836 – a swift horse; a first-rate person or thing.^[2]
• 1849 – a person or thing that clasps, a clip-hook.^[2]
• 1850 – clipper ship.^[5]
• 1887 – an aircraft, especially a trans-oceanic flying boat.^[2]
• 1938 – an electronic circuit limiting signal amplitude.^[2]
• 1941 – verb, to send or travel by clipper aircraft.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tool for cutting or trimming, usually in the plural: She trimmed the hedge with clippers.^[8][4][2]
2. A person who clips or cuts, such as a sheep-shearer or a person who clips coins.^[8][4][2]
3. A fast sailing ship of the mid-19th century, with a sharp bow, tall masts and a large area of sail.^[8][2][3]
4. Something that moves very fast, such as a swift horse.^[8][2][3]
5. (electronics) A limiter, a circuit that cuts off a signal above a set amplitude.^[8][2]
6. (slang) An excellent person or thing.^[2][3][15]
7. A trans-oceanic aircraft or flying boat.^[2]

Word family

• Baltimore clipper

Related words

• clip
• clipping
• cutter

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Onions, C. T., ed. (1966), The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Smyth, W. H. (1867), The Sailor's Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, London: Blackie and Son
14. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford
15. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
18. ^ A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles, Dictionary Unit for South African English, https://dsae.co.za