[syn: grounder, ground ball, groundball, hopper]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Grasshopper \Grass"hop`per\, n.
1. (Zool.) Any jumping, orthopterous insect, of the families
Acridid[ae] and Locustid[ae], having large hind legs
adapted for leaping, and chewing mouth parts. The species
and genera are very numerous and some are very destructive
to crops. The former family includes the Western
grasshopper or locust (Caloptenus spretus), noted for
the great extent of its ravages in the region beyond the
Mississippi. In the Eastern United States the red-legged
(Caloptenus femurrubrum and C. atlanis) are closely
related species, but their ravages are less important.
They are closely related to the migratory locusts of the
Old World. See Locust.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
Note: The meadow or green grasshoppers belong to the
Locustid[ae]. They have long antenn[ae], large
ovipositors, and stridulating organs at the base of the
wings in the male. The European great green grasshopper
(Locusta viridissima) belongs to this family. The
common American green species mostly belong to
Xiphidium, Orchelimum, and Conocephalus.
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2. In ordinary square or upright pianos of London make, the
escapement lever or jack, so made that it can be taken out
and replaced with the key; -- called also the hopper.
--Grove.
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3. (Mil.) An antipersonnel mine that jumps from the ground to
body height when activated, and explodes, hurling metal
fragments over a wide area.
[PJC]
4. A mixed alcoholic beverage containing cr[`e]me de menthe,
light cream, and sometimes cr[`e]me de cacao. The name
comes from its light green color.
[PJC]
Grasshopper engine, a steam engine having a working beam
with its fulcrum at one end, the steam cylinder at the
other end, and the connecting rod at an intermediate
point.
Grasshopper lobster (Zool.) a young lobster. [Local, U. S.]
Grasshopper warbler (Zool.), cricket bird.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Hopper \Hop"per\, n. [See 1st Hop.]
1. One who, or that which, hops.
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2. A chute, box, or receptacle, usually funnel-shaped with an
opening at the lower part, for delivering or feeding any
material, as to a machine; as, the wooden box with its
trough through which grain passes into a mill by joining
or shaking, or a funnel through which fuel passes into a
furnace, or coal, etc., into a car.
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3. (Mus.) See Grasshopper, 2.
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4. pl. A game. See Hopscotch. --Johnson.
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5. (Zool.)
(a) See Grasshopper, and Frog hopper, Grape hopper,
Leaf hopper, Tree hopper, under Frog, Grape,
Leaf, and Tree.
(b) The larva of a cheese fly.
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6. (Naut.) A vessel for carrying waste, garbage, etc., out to
sea, so constructed as to discharge its load by a
mechanical contrivance; -- called also dumping scow.
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Bell and hopper (Metal.), the apparatus at the top of a
blast furnace, through which the charge is introduced,
while the gases are retained.
Hopper boy, a rake in a mill, moving in a circle to spread
meal for drying, and to draw it over an opening in the
floor, through which it falls.
Hopper closet, a water-closet, without a movable pan, in
which the receptacle is a funnel standing on a draintrap.
Hopper cock, a faucet or valve for flushing the hopper of a
water-closet.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Jack \Jack\ (j[a^]k), n. [F. Jacques James, L. Jacobus, Gr. ?,
Heb. Ya 'aq[=o]b Jacob; prop., seizing by the heel; hence, a
supplanter. Cf. Jacobite, Jockey.]
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1. A familiar nickname of, or substitute for, John.
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You are John Rugby, and you are Jack Rugby. --Shak.
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2. An impertinent or silly fellow; a simpleton; a boor; a
clown; also, a servant; a rustic. "Jack fool." --Chaucer.
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Since every Jack became a gentleman,
There 's many a gentle person made a Jack. --Shak.
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3. A popular colloquial name for a sailor; -- called also
Jack tar, and Jack afloat.
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4. A mechanical contrivance, an auxiliary machine, or a
subordinate part of a machine, rendering convenient
service, and often supplying the place of a boy or
attendant who was commonly called Jack; as:
(a) A device to pull off boots.
(b) A sawhorse or sawbuck.
(c) A machine or contrivance for turning a spit; a smoke
jack, or kitchen jack.
(b) (Mining) A wooden wedge for separating rocks rent by
blasting.
(e) (Knitting Machine) A lever for depressing the sinkers
which push the loops down on the needles.
(f) (Warping Machine) A grating to separate and guide the
threads; a heck box.
(g) (Spinning) A machine for twisting the sliver as it
leaves the carding machine.
(h) A compact, portable machine for planing metal.
(i) A machine for slicking or pebbling leather.
(k) A system of gearing driven by a horse power, for
multiplying speed.
(l) A hood or other device placed over a chimney or vent
pipe, to prevent a back draught.
(m) In the harpsichord, an intermediate piece
communicating the action of the key to the quill; --
called also hopper.
(n) In hunting, the pan or frame holding the fuel of the
torch used to attract game at night; also, the light
itself. --C. Hallock.
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5. A portable machine variously constructed, for exerting
great pressure, or lifting or moving a heavy body such as
an automobile through a small distance. It consists of a
lever, screw, rack and pinion, hydraulic press, or any
simple combination of mechanical powers, working in a
compact pedestal or support and operated by a lever,
crank, capstan bar, etc. The name is often given to a
jackscrew, which is a kind of jack.
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6. The small bowl used as a mark in the game of bowls.
--Shak.
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Like an uninstructed bowler who thinks to attain the
jack by delivering his bowl straight forward upon
it. --Sir W.
Scott.
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7. The male of certain animals, as of the ass.
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8. (Zool.)
(a) A young pike; a pickerel.
(b) The jurel.
(c) A large, California rock fish (Sebastodes
paucispinus); -- called also boccaccio, and
m['e]rou.
(d) The wall-eyed pike.
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9. A drinking measure holding half a pint; also, one holding
a quarter of a pint. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.
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10. (Naut.)
(a) A flag, containing only the union, without the fly,
usually hoisted on a jack staff at the bowsprit cap;
-- called also union jack. The American jack is a
small blue flag, with a star for each State.
(b) A bar of iron athwart ships at a topgallant masthead,
to support a royal mast, and give spread to the royal
shrouds; -- called also jack crosstree. --R. H.
Dana, Jr.
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11. The knave of a suit of playing cards.
12. (pl.) A game played with small (metallic, with
tetrahedrally oriented spikes) objects (the jacks(1950+),
formerly jackstones) that are tossed, caught, picked up,
and arranged on a horizontal surface in various patterns;
in the modern American game, the movements are
accompanied by tossing or bouncing a rubber ball on the
horizontal surface supporting the jacks. same as
jackstones.
[PJC]
13. Money. [slang]
[PJC]
14. Apple jack.
[PJC]
15. Brandy.
[PJC]
Note: Jack is used adjectively in various senses. It
sometimes designates something cut short or diminished
in size; as, a jack timber; a jack rafter; a jack arch,
etc.
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Jack arch, an arch of the thickness of one brick.
Jack back (Brewing & Malt Vinegar Manuf.), a cistern which
receives the wort. See under 1st Back.
Jack block (Naut.), a block fixed in the topgallant or
royal rigging, used for raising and lowering light masts
and spars.
Jack boots, boots reaching above the knee; -- worn in the
17 century by soldiers; afterwards by fishermen, etc.
Jack crosstree. (Naut.) See 10, b, above.
Jack curlew (Zool.), the whimbrel.
Jack frame. (Cotton Spinning) See 4
(g), above.
Jack Frost, frost or cold weather personified as a
mischievous person.
Jack hare, a male hare. --Cowper.
Jack lamp, a lamp for still hunting and camp use. See def.
4
(n.), above.
Jack plane, a joiner's plane used for coarse work.
Jack post, one of the posts which support the crank shaft
of a deep-well-boring apparatus.
Jack pot (Poker Playing), the name given to the stakes,
contributions to which are made by each player
successively, till such a hand is turned as shall take the
"pot," which is the sum total of all the bets. See also
jackpot.
Jack rabbit (Zool.), any one of several species of large
American hares, having very large ears and long legs. The
California species (Lepus Californicus), and that of
Texas and New Mexico (Lepus callotis), have the tail
black above, and the ears black at the tip. They do not
become white in winter. The more northern prairie hare
(Lepus campestris) has the upper side of the tail white,
and in winter its fur becomes nearly white.
Jack rafter (Arch.), in England, one of the shorter rafters
used in constructing a hip or valley roof; in the United
States, any secondary roof timber, as the common rafters
resting on purlins in a trussed roof; also, one of the
pieces simulating extended rafters, used under the eaves
in some styles of building.
Jack salmon (Zool.), the wall-eyed pike, or glasseye.
Jack sauce, an impudent fellow. [Colloq. & Obs.]
Jack shaft (Mach.), the first intermediate shaft, in a
factory or mill, which receives power, through belts or
gearing, from a prime mover, and transmits it, by the same
means, to other intermediate shafts or to a line shaft.
Jack sinker (Knitting Mach.), a thin iron plate operated by
the jack to depress the loop of thread between two
needles.
Jack snipe. (Zool.) See in the Vocabulary.
Jack staff (Naut.), a staff fixed on the bowsprit cap, upon
which the jack is hoisted.
Jack timber (Arch.), any timber, as a rafter, rib, or
studding, which, being intercepted, is shorter than the
others.
Jack towel, a towel hung on a roller for common use.
Jack truss (Arch.), in a hip roof, a minor truss used where
the roof has not its full section.
Jack tree. (Bot.) See 1st Jack, n.
Jack yard (Naut.), a short spar to extend a topsail beyond
the gaff.
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Blue jack, blue vitriol; sulphate of copper.
Hydraulic jack, a jack used for lifting, pulling, or
forcing, consisting of a compact portable hydrostatic
press, with its pump and a reservoir containing a supply
of liquid, as oil.
Jack-at-a-pinch.
(a) One called upon to take the place of another in an
emergency.
(b) An itinerant parson who conducts an occasional
service for a fee.
Jack-at-all-trades, one who can turn his hand to any kind
of work.
Jack-by-the-hedge (Bot.), a plant of the genus Erysimum
(Erysimum alliaria, or Alliaria officinalis), which
grows under hedges. It bears a white flower and has a
taste not unlike garlic. Called also, in England,
sauce-alone. --Eng. Cyc.
Jack-in-office, an insolent fellow in authority. --Wolcott.
Jack-in-the-bush (Bot.), a tropical shrub with red fruit
(Cordia Cylindrostachya).
Jack-in-the-green, a chimney sweep inclosed in a framework
of boughs, carried in Mayday processions.
Jack-of-the-buttery (Bot.), the stonecrop (Sedum acre).
Jack-of-the-clock, a figure, usually of a man, on old
clocks, which struck the time on the bell.
Jack-on-both-sides, one who is or tries to be neutral.
Jack-out-of-office, one who has been in office and is
turned out. --Shak.
Jack the Giant Killer, the hero of a well-known nursery
story.
Yellow Jack (Naut.), the yellow fever; also, the quarantine
flag. See Yellow flag, under Flag.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
hopper
n 1: funnel-shaped receptacle; contents pass by gravity into a
receptacle below
2: someone who hops; "at hopscotch, the best hoppers are the
children"
3: a machine used for picking hops [syn: hop-picker, hopper]
4: terrestrial plant-eating insect with hind legs adapted for
leaping [syn: grasshopper, hopper]
5: (baseball) a hit that travels along the ground [syn:
grounder, ground ball, groundball, hopper]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
29 Moby Thesaurus words for "hopper":
broad jumper, bucking bronco, buckjumper, cicada, cicala, cricket,
dog-day cicada, flea, frog, gazelle, goat, grasshopper,
high jumper, hoppergrass, hurdle racer, hurdler, jackrabbit,
jumper, jumping bean, jumping jack, kangaroo, leaper, locust,
pole vaulter, salmon, stag, sunfisher, timber topper, vaulter