nipper
[nip-er]
- a person or thing that nips.
- Usually nippers. a device for nipping, as pincers or forceps.
- one of the two large claws of a crustacean.
- Metalworking. dog(def 13).
- nippers, Older Slang. handcuffs.
- Informal.
- a small boy.
- Chiefly British.a costermonger's helper or assistant.
- Nautical. a short rope for seizing an anchor cable to a messenger from a capstan.
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Origin of nipper
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for nippers
Historical Examples
Bluenoses have no use for nippers, as Britishers call apprentices.
All AfloatWilliam Wood
The surging or slipping of the cable when the nippers do not hold.
The Sailor's Word-BookWilliam Henry Smyth
Also, the cable is brought-to when fastened to the messenger by nippers.
The Sailor's Word-BookWilliam Henry Smyth
To clap on nippers closely, just at starting the anchor from the ground.
The Sailor's Word-BookWilliam Henry Smyth
A policeman came in from the street and put the nippers on him.
Halsey & Co.H. K. Shackleford
nippers
- an instrument or tool, such as a pair of pliers, for snipping, pinching, or squeezing
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nipper
- a person or thing that nips
- the large pincer-like claw of a lobster, crab, or similar crustacean
- informal a small child
- Australian a type of small prawn used as bait
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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 nippers
nipper
n.
"small boy," 1859, originally (1530s) a pickpocket who "pinched" other people's property; see nip (v.).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper