dipper

[ dip-er ]
See synonyms for dipper on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person or thing that dips.

  2. a cuplike container with a long handle, used for dipping liquids.

  1. (initial capital letter)Astronomy.

  2. Ornithology.Also called water ouzel. any small, stocky diving bird of the family Cinclidae, related to the thrushes, especially Cinclus aquaticus of Europe and C. mexicanus of western North America, having dense, oilyplumage and frequenting rapid streams and rivers.

  3. South Midland and Southern U.S. a person who uses snuff.

Origin of dipper

1
1350–1400; Middle English: diving bird; see dip1, -er1

Words Nearby dipper

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use dipper in a sentence

  • Taking a long-handled dipper, Arthur half-filled it with the bait and threw it as far as he could out toward the school of fish.

    The Rival Campers | Ruel Perley Smith
  • Like a flash she darted across to the house, caught up a dipper and filled it from the water-pail.

    Maid Sally | Harriet A. Cheever
  • And whenever at work he happened to spy At chink or crevice a blinking eye, He let the dipper of water fly.

  • He is the only member of the dipper family in North America.

    Birds of the Rockies | Leander Sylvester Keyser

British Dictionary definitions for dipper

dipper

/ (ˈdɪpə) /


noun
  1. a ladle used for dipping

  2. Also called: water ouzel any aquatic songbird of the genus Cinclus and family Cinclidae, esp C. cinclus. They inhabit fast-flowing streams and resemble large wrens

  1. a slang word for pickpocket

  2. a person or thing that dips, such as the mechanism for directing car headlights downwards

  3. a small metal cup clipped onto a painter's palette for holding diluent or medium

  4. archaic an Anabaptist

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