snipper
(ˈsnɪpə(r))
[f. snip v.]
1. pl. A machine or instrument for snipping or clipping; scissors.
| 1593 J. Norden Spec. Brit. (Camden) Pref. p. xiv, They have snippers wherewith they snyppe and pare their plates, which snippers..are so artificially placed,..that by the mocion of the water also the snippers open and shut. 1603 Florio Montaigne ii. ii. (1632) 192 When in Josephus we heare a childe all to rent with bitting snippers. 1647 Hexham i, A paire of snippers, een snip-schaerken. |
2. One who snips or clips; spec. a tailor.
| 1611 Cotgr., Tondeur, a sheerer,..barber, vermine-snipper. 1648 Hexham ii, Een Knipper,..a Snipper. Ibid., Een snipperaer, a Snipper or a Cutter off. 1684 Dryden tr. Maimbourg's Hist. League Postscr. 35 As our Snippers go over once a year into France, to bring back the newest Mode, and to learn to cut and shape it. 1827 Lancet 10 Nov. 223/2 For the snippers of broad cloth and calf-skin I had little compassion. 1865 S. Evans Brother Fabian's MS. 156 You'd be delighted to murder the snipper Who measures my waist for a skirt. |
3. A cattle-dealer on a small scale.
| 1869 Pall Mall G. 9 Sept. 12 The snippers and provincial jobbers..furnish the raw material to the Aberdeen dealers and butchers. |