dipper

From Middle English dippere; equivalent to dip +‎ -er.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪpə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪpɚ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪpə(ɹ)

dipper (plural dippers)

1. One who, or that which, dips (immerses something, or itself, into a liquid).
   • 1903, Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, page 1189:

     A chocolate dipper dips the cream centers into warm chocolate by hand; when taken out the creams are shaped [...]

   • 2001, Thermal Engineering, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, →ISBN, page 472:

     When the engine runs the dipper dips in the oil once in every revolution of the crankshaft and the oil is splashed on the cylinder walls.

2. Any of various small passerine birds of the genus Cinclus that live near fast-flowing streams and feed along the bottom.
3. A cup-shaped vessel with a long handle, for dipping into and ladling out liquids; a ladle or scoop.
4. (UK, India) The control in a vehicle that switches between high-beam and low-beam (i.e. dips the lights), especially when used to signal other vehicles.
5. Any snack food intended to be dipped in sauce.

   chicken dippers

6. (slang) A pickpocket.
   • 1976, Michael Harrison, Beyond Baker Street: A Sherlockian Anthology, page 117:

     It is doubtful if the Victorian Londoner needed any warning, for the artful mobsmen, toolers, whizzers and dippers, together with their stickman accomplices, were everywhere in the crowds, in the underground, on railway trains […]

7. (historical) A person employed in a tin plate works to coat steel plates in molten tin by dipping them.
8. (historical) A person employed to assist a bather in and out of the sea.
9. (historical, informal, Christianity) A Baptist or Dunker.

• (pickpocket): see Thesaurus:pickpocket

• (Cinclus): Cinclus cinclus (water ouzel)

birds of the genus Cinclus

• white-throated dipper or European dipper (Cinclus cinclus)
• brown dipper, Cinclus pallasii
• American dipper, Cinclus mexicanus
• white-capped dipper, Cinclus leucocephalus
• rufous-throated dipper, Cinclus schulzii

cup-shaped vessel with a handle

• Big Dipper
• Little Dipper

• ripped