clipper
Noun

clipper (plural clippers)

  1. Anything that clips.
  2. (chiefly, in the plural) A tool used for clipping something, such as hair, coins, or fingernails.
  3. Something that moves swiftly; especially:
    1. (nautical) Any of several forms of very fast sailing ships having a long, low hull and a sharply raked stem.
    2. (informal) An Alberta clipper.
  4. (entomology) The Asian butterfly Parthenos sylvia, family Nymphalidae.
  5. (electronics) A circuit which prevents the amplitude of a wave from exceeding a set value.
  6. (historical) A person who mutilates coins by fraudulently paring the edges.
    • c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry V (play), Act IV, Scene 1,
      Indeed, the French may lay twenty French crowns to one, they will beat us; for they bear them on their shoulders: but it is no English treason to cut French crowns, and to-morrow the king himself will be a clipper.
    • 1781, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, London: J. Bew, Act II, p. 21,
      Many a wretch who has been drawn upon a hurdle, has done less mischief than those barterers of forged lies, coiners of scandal, and clippers of reputation.
    • 2010, James K. Morrow, The Last Witchfinder
      Surtouts billowing in an unseasonably fierce wind, the ursine Chelmsford magistrate and his equally bulky constable herded their bound prisoners – three murderers, three thieves, a coin clipper, two convicted witches – across the Common […]
  7. (slang) Confidence trickster; conman.
    • 1848', William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 16:
      "You have head enough for both of us, Beck," said he. "You're sure to get us out of the scrape. I never saw your equal, and I've met with some clippers in my time too."
Translations
  • Russian: куса́чки
Translations


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