trimmer

Etymology

From trim +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɪmə/

Adjective

trimmer

1. comparative form of trim: more trim

Noun

trimmer (plural trimmers)

1. One who trims, arranges, fits, or ornaments.
   • 1944, Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts, “Life Loves Living,”

     It put me to endless expense of having roof-men, gutter-men and tree-trimmers. At last I gave the grim order, “Cut her down.”

2. A device used to trim.
3. (nautical) A member of the crew who trims the sails.
4. Someone who fluctuates between opposing factions, political parties etc., according to current interest, a flip-flopper.
   • 1848, Baron Macaulay, History of England, I.2:

     Thus Halifax was a Trimmer on principle.

   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 9:

     Lady Margaret Beaufort's third husband, Lord Stanley, an accomplished political trimmer, gave fair words but little commitment: the vast, well-armed Stanley retinues shadowed Henry's route southeast to the battlefield and waited, detached, to see how the chips fell.

5. (architecture) A beam into which are framed the ends of headers in floor framing, as when a hole is to be left for stairs, or to avoid bringing joists near chimneys.
6. (mining, historical) A person employed to rearrange the coal in the hold of a vessel, so that it fills the vessel without forming a conical blockage.
7. (mining, historical) A device for storing coal in gradually increasing piles made by building up at the point of the cone or top of the prism.