ripper

[ rip-er ]

noun

1. a person or thing that rips. rip.
2. Also ripper bill, ripper act. a legislative bill or act for taking powers of appointment to and removal from office away from the usual holders of these powers and conferring them unrestrictedly on a chief executive, as a governor or mayor, or on a board of officials.
3. a double-ripper.
4. a killer who dispatches and often mutilates victims with a knife or similar weapon.
5. Mining. a hooklike tool, attached to earth-moving machinery, for tearing away ore, rock, etc.
6. Chiefly British Slang. something especially strong, fine, or good of its kind.

ripper

/ ˈrɪpə /

noun

1. a person who rips
2. a murderer who dissects or mutilates his victims' bodies
3. informal.
   a fine or excellent person or thing

Word History and Origins

Origin of ripper¹

First recorded in 1605–15; rip ¹ + -er ¹

Example Sentences

The problem with this revelation is that confidence is much harder to develop as an adult than as a child, as anyone who has seen a little ripper rocket blindly down technical terrain can attest.

From Outside Online

Each one, to a fault, is lovestruck by snow, deeply introspective about their life choices, and a ripper.

From Outside Online

Now manufacturers offer high-performance models in a range of lasts so that even wide-footed rippers can enjoy both comfort and power.

From Outside Online

If the insufficient handles are still attached to your NWPP sheets, cut them off or use a seam ripper to take them out.

From Popular-Science

Did the Ripper quit because he feared that he was close to being caught?

From The Daily Beast

This makes the guide to the Jack the Ripper Walk seem rather dated.

From The Daily Beast

Of course, you could protest that Sherlock did not really exist and the Ripper did.

From The Daily Beast

Later heads of Scotland Yard admitted that the Ripper should have been caught.

From The Daily Beast

LONDON — If Sherlock Holmes was such a smart detective, why was he not put on the case of Jack the Ripper?

From The Daily Beast

Old Ripper, a talkative, discontented man, stopped and ventured to enter on his grievances.

From Project Gutenberg

Mr. Ripper's opinion was that he had lost his senses with the blow on the temple, and fell an easy prey to death.

From Project Gutenberg

Mr. Ripper's logic tended to the belief that he could not be punished if he stuck to the avowal of having seen nothing.

From Project Gutenberg

Such cases as that of Jack the Ripper, for instance, are undoubtedly due to a special tendency to take life.

From Project Gutenberg

But as the policemen closed in around me there was a cry raised, "It is Jack the Ripper in disguise."

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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