hopper
[hop-er]
- a person or thing that hops.
- 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.
- any of various jumping insects, as grasshoppers or leafhoppers.
- Australian. kangaroo.
- 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.
- Railroads. hopper car.
- U.S. Politics. a box into which a proposed legislative bill is dropped and thereby officially introduced.
- hopper casement.
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- in the hopper, Informal. in preparation; about to be realized: Plans for the class reunion are in the hopper.
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Origin of hopper
Hopper
[hop-er]
- Edward,1882–1967, U.S. painter and etcher.
- Grace Murray,1906–92, U.S. naval officer and computer scientist.
- (William) De Wolf [duh-woo lf] /də wʊlf/, 1858–1935, U.S. actor.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for hopper
Contemporary Examples
Stream House of Cards and other Netflix originals right from the Hopper.
Hopper (1882-1967), had his first major retrospective at the Whitney in 1964.
In the decade following World War I, Hopper settled on a vein of imagery that has been his special glory ever since.
Hopper was also very interested in what was taking place in the art scene.
From 1960 to 1967, Hopper disappeared from Hollywood, and this trove of images helps document how he spent his time.
Historical Examples
"He did well to come to terms with them," continued Hopper, dropping his voice.
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
He repaid Hopper with a specimen of his tongue, and flung the writ back at him.
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
"I guess I'll go and shake hands with Mrs. Hopper," said Nan.
Mary Louise in the CountryL. Frank Baum (AKA Edith Van Dyne)
"He couldn't want anything that's cheaper to make," said Mrs. Hopper.
Mary Louise in the CountryL. Frank Baum (AKA Edith Van Dyne)
I stood as long as I could stagger to the hopper with grain.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass
hopper
- a person or thing that hops
- 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
- a machine used for picking hops
- any of various long-legged hopping insects, esp the grasshopper, leaf hopper, and immature locust
- Also called: hoppercar an open-topped railway truck for bulk transport of loose minerals, etc, unloaded through doors on the underside
- Southern African another name for cocopan
- computing a device formerly used for holding punched cards and feeding them to a card punch or card reader
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Hopper
- Edward. 1882–1967, US painter, noted for his realistic depiction of everyday scenes
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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
Word Origin and History for hopper
n.2
"container with narrow opening at bottom," late 13c., perhaps an agent noun from hop (v.) via notion of grain juggling in a mill hopper.
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n.1
"person or animal that hops," mid-13c., agent noun from hop (v.). From c.1200 as a surname, and perhaps existing in Old English (cf. hoppestre "female dancer").
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Hopper
[hŏp′ər]
- 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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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.