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• hopper
  hopper

  noun

  a person or thing that hops.
• Hopper
  Hopper

  noun

  Edward, 1882–1967, U.S. painter and etcher.

hopper

¹ American  

[hop-er] / ˈhɒp ər /

noun

• hoppers
  plural

1. a person or thing that hops.

2. Informal. a person who travels or moves frequently from one place or situation to another (usually used in combination).

   a two-week tour designed for energetic city-hoppers.

3. any of various jumping insects, as grasshoppers or leafhoppers.

4. Australian. kangaroo.

5. a funnel-shaped chamber or bin in which loose material, as grain or coal, is stored temporarily, being filled through the top and dispensed through the bottom.

6. Railroads. hopper car.

7. U.S. Politics. a box into which a proposed legislative bill is dropped and thereby officially introduced.

8. one of the pieces at each side of a hopper casement.

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idioms

1. in the hopper, in preparation; about to be realized.

   Plans for the class reunion are in the hopper.

Hopper ² American  

[hop-er] / ˈhɒp ər /

noun

1. Edward, 1882–1967, U.S. painter and etcher.

2. Grace Murray, 1906–92, U.S. naval officer and computer scientist.

3. (William) De Wolf 1858–1935, U.S. actor.

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hopper ¹ British  

/ ˈhɒpə /

noun

1. a person or thing that hops

2. a funnel-shaped chamber or reservoir from which solid materials can be discharged under gravity into a receptacle below, esp for feeding fuel to a furnace, loading a railway truck with grain, etc

3. a machine used for picking hops

4. any of various long-legged hopping insects, esp the grasshopper, leaf hopper, and immature locust

5. Also called: hoppercar.  an open-topped railway truck for bulk transport of loose minerals, etc, unloaded through doors on the underside

6. another name for cocopan

7. computing a device formerly used for holding punched cards and feeding them to a card punch or card reader

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Hopper ² British  

/ ˈhɒpə /

noun

1. Edward. 1882–1967, US painter, noted for his realistic depiction of everyday scenes

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Hopper Scientific  

/ hŏp′ər /

1. American mathematician and computer programmer who in 1951 conceived the idea for an internal computer program, called a compiler, that scanned a set of alphanumeric instructions (such as words and symbols) and compiled a set of binary instructions executed by the machine. Her ideas were widely influential in the development of programming languages, in particular COBOL.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• hoppers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hopper

Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at hop ¹, -er ¹

Explanation

A hopper is a funnel-shaped device used to move material from one receptacle to another. This type of hopper has nothing to do with hopping or jumping: it's a device — the kind you're most likely to see in a chemistry lab — for moving substances from one container to another. If you need to pour a large beaker of liquid into a tiny test tube, the hopper lets you move the liquid without spilling. Solid, grain-like substances could also be moved using a hopper. Many factories will have hoppers as part of their machinery too.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hopper Hopper hoppers

“This creates a strong platform to invest with discipline into our distinctive deep hopper of oil & gas opportunities,” BP said.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 10, 2026

Bills don’t get passed merely because someone drops a draft in the hopper.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025

After watching the first six episodes of its full 12, you may thank the Universe that there aren’t more rounds in the hopper.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2025

Intuitive Machines, who made the hopper, say it can travel to places that other machines, like robots with wheels, can't reach or would take a very long time to get to.

From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2025

Enrique flees from car to car, more than twenty in all, struggling to keep his footing each time he leaps from a hopper to a fuel tanker, which is lower and has a rounded top.

From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario

The vessel, named Island Hopper, belongs to Ship 16, a unit of the Sea Scouts, a program of Scouting America.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2026

Hopper says her team, and the Baden Powell staff worked hard to ensure the children's transition to Nightingale school was smooth.

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026

But Ms. Hopper finds “something liberating about bearing witness” to an artist so “unrepentant” about her own internal chaos.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026

“There is a void in my guts that can only be filled by songs,” writes Jessica Hopper, a self-described addict of lyrics and tunes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026

I went to Mrs. Van Hopper, uncertain, rather self-conscious, like a maid who has handed in her notice through a friend.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

Both the pandemic and several waves of corporate layoffs since mean that many more people look like job hoppers these days—and that employers are scrutinizing their job history, recruiters say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

But in August and September, job hoppers once again had more significant pay gains.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 22, 2025

Deal-chasing festival hoppers take heed of the combination DIDO/CHBP passes starting at $349.

From Seattle Times ● May 20, 2024

The centre still contains the grain hoppers which are individually numbered and almost reach the full height of the building.

From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2024

He could sit on a round compressor at the end of some hoppers, his feet dangling just above the train wheels.

From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario

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