clipper

[klip-er]

noun

1. a person or thing that clips clip or cuts.

2. (often used with a plural verb),  Often clippers. a cutting tool, especially shears.

   hedge clippers.

3. (usually used with a plural verb),  Usually clippers. a mechanical or electric tool for cutting hair, fingernails, or the like.

   He told the barber, “No clippers on the sides, please.”

4. Also called clipper ship. Nautical.,  a sailing ship built and rigged for speed, especially a type of three-masted ship with a fast hull form and a lofty rig, built in the U.S. from c1845, and in Great Britain from a later date, until c1870, and used in trades in which speed was more important than cargo capacity.

5. Electronics.,  a device that gives output only for an input above or below a certain critical value.

6. a person or thing that moves along swiftly.

clipper

/ ˈklɪpə /

noun

1. any fast sailing ship

2. a person or thing that cuts or clips

3. something, such as a horse or sled, that moves quickly

4. electronics another word for limiter

Other Word Forms

• unclipper noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of clipper¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; clip ¹, -er ¹

Example Sentences

As Carlos told it, his brother took the clippers, began to buzz, and in the harrowing tradition of at-home haircuts gone amok, somewhere along the way…

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The virus is spread through blood or other body fluids and can be contracted through something as innocuous as sharing a nail clipper or toothbrush, doctors say.

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It took weeks to get a nail clipper, said one man, for their unit of dozens of men.

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Alcaraz told reporters that he had simply wanted a haircut before the tournament, but one of his brothers “misunderstood” how to use the clippers.

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He described himself as a "spiritual nomad", exploring paths through yoga, Buddhism, and Christian mysticism, and learned from the Dalai Lama - whom he gifted a tartan-pouched hair clipper in 1988.

Read more on BBC