▪ I. looper1
(ˈluːpə(r))
[f. loop v.1 + -er1.]
One who or that which makes loops.
1. The larva of any geometrid moth. Also attrib.
| 1731 E. Albin Birds I. 2 A..number of green Caterpillars call'd Loopers. 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 250 Caterpillars half loopers. 1840 J. & M. Loudon tr. Köllar's Treat. Insects iii. 212 The most ruinous insect for fruit-trees is assuredly the green looper-caterpillar. 1869 Eng. Mech. 24 Dec. 345/2 The extensive family known as the Geometers or Loopers..proceed by a regular series of strides, the middle of the body forming a loop. 1882 Garden 25 Feb. 132/2 The caterpillars of these [Swallow-tail] moths are called Loopers. 1932 E. Step Bees, Wasps, Ants 184 A more striking..case is that of some ‘looper’ caterpillar,..from which a hundred Microgaster larvæ have broken out. 1964 V. B. Wigglesworth Life of Insects x. 149 We have a whole series of insect larvae, of Noctuid moths, of ‘looper’ or Geometrid caterpillars, saw-fly larvae and others, all of which resemble pine needles. |
2. a. A contrivance for making loops, e.g. in a sewing-machine. b. An implement for looping strips together in making rag-carpets.
| 1857 Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Sewing etc. (1871) 99 It [the diagonal needle] immediately becomes a simple looper to take the thread from the vertical needle. 1891 19th Cent. 941 In 1880 a machine called the ‘looper’ was invented. Note. The looper is the shuttle of a double-thread sewing-machine, which holds the under thread. 1895 Chamb. Jrnl. 21 Sept. 599/2 Making a chain-stitch by means of a revolving looper. |
3. Aeronaut. One who loops the loop, or who has done so; a machine specially adapted for looping the loop.
| 1914 Aeroplane 15 Jan. 63/1 Two more names have been added to the roll of loopers. Ibid. 12 Mar. 284/2 Mr. Hucks..first flew his two-seater, and later on the ‘looper’ at 700 feet, made one loop. |
▪ II. looper2 S. African.
(ˈluːpə(r))
Also loper.
[a. Du. looper, lit. ‘runner’.]
pl. A kind of large buck-shot.
| 1886 P. Gillmore Hunter's Arcadia iii. 18, I quickly substituted cartridges of lopers (buckshot) for the No. 3 that my chambers had previously contained. 1889 Rider Haggard Allan's Wife 47 Now, boy, the gun, no, not the rifle, the shot-gun loaded with loopers. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 16 May 5/2 Mr. Green was only armed with a shot gun and cartridges loaded with loopers. 1932 C. Fuller Louis Trigardt's Trek x. 120 They espied a fully armed Native and scared him away with a charge of lopers. |