kipper

See also: Kipper

English

Kippered "split" herring.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɪpə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

Old English cypera "male salmon," perhaps related to Old English coper "reddish-brown metal" (see copper), on resemblance of color. Another theory connects it to kip "sharp, hooked lower jaw of the male salmon in breeding season," from Middle English kippen "to seize, snatch" but OED doubts this.

Noun

kipper (plural kippers)

  1. A split, salted and smoked herring or salmon.
  2. A male salmon after spawning.
  3. (military, RAF World War II code name) A patrol to protect fishing boats in the Irish and North Seas against attack from the air.
  4. (Britain, humorous, often with capital) A member of UKIP (UK Independence Party).
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

kipper (third-person singular simple present kippers, present participle kippering, simple past and past participle kippered)

  1. (cooking) To prepare a herring or similar fish in that fashion.
    • Charles Dickens
      There was kippered salmon, and Finnan haddocks, and a lamb's head, and a haggis […]

Etymology 2

Perhaps akin to Old Norse kjapt (“briskly; impetuously”), kippa ("to snatch; pull; jerk" > Middle English kippen (“to seize”)), kipra (“to wrinkle; draw tightly”), Norwegian kjapp (“fast; brisk”), Dutch kippen (“to seize; catch; grip”). More at kip.

Adjective

kipper (comparative more kipper, superlative most kipper)

  1. (Britain, dialect) amorous
  2. (Britain, dialect) lively; light-footed; nimble
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

Estonian

Etymology

From Middle Low German schippere, cognate to English skipper. Dialectal "kippar" is loaned from a Scandinavian language. Compare Old Swedish skipari

Noun

kipper (genitive kipri, partitive kiprit)

  1. skipper.
  2. Head of a small ship.

Declension

References

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