finisher

Etymology

From finish +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪnɪʃə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪnɪʃɚ/

Noun

finisher (plural finishers)

1. A person who finishes or completes something.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, Act II, Scene 1,

     He that of greatest works is finisher

     Oft does them by the weakest minister […]

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Hebrews 12:1-2,

     […] let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith […]

   The early finishers waited for the other runners to reach the finish line.

2. A person who applies a finish to something, such as furniture.
3. The person who applies the gilding and decoration in bookbinding.
4. A construction machine used to smooth a newly constructed road surface.
5. (boxing) The blow that ends a fight; the knock-out blow.
   • 1934, Robert E. Howard, “General Ironfist” in Jack Dempsey's Fight Magazine, June 1934,

     A thundering right to the head bent him back over the ropes, and then, just as I was setting myself for the finisher, I felt somebody jerking my pants leg […]

6. (video games, informal) A finishing move.
   • 1999, BradyGames, Secret Codes for Sega Dreamcast

     Tie Up Fallaway Slam (Finisher)

   • 2002, Ben Cureton, Paul Edwards, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance(tm) Official Strategy Guide

     Shadow Kick (OO+O) is best used as a punishing move and a combo finisher.

7. (soccer) A player who shoots goals.
   • 2013, Alistair Magowan, "Arsenal 3-1 Stoke", BBC Sport, 22 September 2013:

     After suffering a broken leg in a challenge from Stoke's Ryan Shawcross in 2010, the goal allowed Ramsey to put a positive slant on this fixture and show how he is evolving into a composed finisher.

8. (rugby) A substitute player who plays at the end of the game
   • 2018 February 24, Paul Rees, “Finn Russell masterminds historic Scotland victory over England”, in The Guardian‎:

     Jones has used his bench as finishers and repeated last year’s ploy that helped overcome France when he brought on Ben Te’o for Ford. Hartley and Brown had already gone off, along with Hughes, whose replacement Sam Underhill was making an impact at the breakdown when he was sent to the sin-bin for a no-arms tackle on Barclay.

Anagrams

• refinish