I. ˈhäpə(r) noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from hoppen to hop + -er — more at hop
1. : one that hops: as
a. : a leaping insect (as a leafhopper, grasshopper, or froghopper) ; specifically : an immature hopping form usually of an insect that is winged as a adult (as the larva of a cheese fly or a young grasshopper or locust)
b.
(1) : a person who makes flights or trips of usually short duration
the first island- hopper in the Caribbean — Newsweek
(2) : one who flits about from one place of a specified kind to another of the same kind — usually used in combination
a table- hopper
a bar hopper
c. : a batted ball which rebounds from the ground
2.
a. : a chute, box, or receptacle usually funnel-shaped with an opening at the lower part for delivering material (as grain, fuel, or coal)
b. : something like or likened to a hopper in form or function as:
(1) : any of the compartments of a hopper frame or the hopper frame itself
(2) : a feeder for animals ; especially : one from which food flows automatically from an enclosed reservoir to the compartment from which it is eaten
c. : a box usually on the desk of the clerk or other official of a legislative body into which a proposed bill is dropped
d. : the process of realization or preparation — used in the phrase in the hopper
your show is in the hopper and you might just as well … not worry — E.J.Kahn
a plan for exempting … small businesses from wage controls is in the hopper — Washington Report
3.
a. : a ship used especially to convey mud, gravel, or sand dredged from harbors out to sea and constructed with a full midship section from which the cargo is discharged through the bottom
b. : hopper car
c.
(1) : a tank holding water or other liquid and having a device for releasing its contents through a pipe at the bottom
(2) : a toilet bowl
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: hop (III) + -er
1. : a hop picker
2. : a brewery worker who pours dried hops into casks
3. : an inverted pyramid or cone through which malt passes to the grinding mill in the brewing process