kipper

Meaning

Noun

1. A split, salted and smoked herring or salmon.
2. A male salmon after spawning.
3. A patrol to protect fishing boats in the Irish and North Seas against attack from the air.
4. (slang) A torpedo.
5. (slang) An Englishman who has moved to Australia.
6. A young Aboriginal man who has been initiated into to the rights of manhood.
7. A fool.
8. A child or young person.

Verb

1. To prepare (a herring or similar fish) by splitting, salting, and smoking.
2. To damage or treat with smoke.
3. To dry out with heat or harsh chemicals; to desiccate.
4. To drink or give a drink of alcohol, especially to intoxication.
5. To punish by spanking or caning.
6. To lead astray or frame; to cause to get into trouble.
7. To utterly defeat or humiliate.

Adj

1. Out of season.
2. Very wide, shaped like a kipper.

Adj

lively; chipper; nimble.

Synonyms

smoked herring

bloater

kippered herring

smoke

cure

bloat

red herring

corn

🌽

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkɪpə(ɹ)/

Etymology

Inherited from Old English: cypera

Inherited from Old English: coper

Inherited from Middle English: kippen

In summary

From 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.