groper

[groh-per]

noun

a person or thing that gropes.

Origin of groper

First recorded in 1560–70; grope + -er¹

groper

[groh-per]

noun

a large, purplish food fish, Achoerodus gouldii, inhabiting waters off Australia and New Zealand, characterized by an enormous gape.

Origin of groper

apparently alteration of grouper¹, perhaps by association with grope

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for gropers

Historical Examples of gropers

You see, that's what we gropers after the light are trying to make possible.
The Return of Peter Grimm
David Belasco
He was continually surrounded at his work by a school of gropers, averaging a foot in length.
Lippincott's Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, No. 23, February, 1873, Vol. XI. No. 23.
Various
The boots are for one's own guidance; the toque illuminante is to show other gropers in the darkness that one's coming.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, February 16, 1916
Various

British Dictionary definitions for gropers

groper

grouper

noun plural -er or -ers

any large marine serranid fish of the genus Epinephelus and related genera, of warm and tropical seasAlso called: garoupa

Word Origin for groper

C17: from Portuguese garupa, probably from a South American Indian word

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012