[f. STOP v. + -ER1.]
1. A person who stops (see the senses of the verb).
† a. One who obstructs the course of (a river); one who stops or fills up holes or chinks.
1480. Coventry Leet Bk., 455. They maken dayly als gret diligens as they can to knowe the stoppers of the seid Comien Ryuer,… and when eny be perceyued they ben punysshed.
1611. Bible, Ezek. xxvii. 9. Thy calkers [marg. or, stoppers of chinks, Heb. strengthners].
b. Hunting. = earth-stopper (EARTH sb.1 II).
1848. Rural Amusem., 125. The stopper belonging to the pack rarely neglected stopping these earths in the night before the meet.
c. One who brings to a stand or causes to cease.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, IV. (S.T.S.), II. 124. Þe remanent tribunis, quhilkis war stopparis of þe law Agrarie.
1597. Middleton, Wisd. Solomon, iv. 17. When wail is weales, & stelth is welths chiefe stopper.
1611. Cotgr., Estancheur, a stopper (of an issue of blood, &c.).
1617. Moryson, Itin., II. 22. If any be stopped from following of his track the stopper shall answere the goods so tracked.
1913. H. S. Wilkinson, in Rep. 7th Ann. Mtg. Hist. Assoc., 3. How … could a leader … find a multitude of his fellow creatures willing to make themselves stoppers of bullets and to part with lire itself in obedience to a word…?
d. Pugilism. (See STOP v. 15 d.)
1840. Blaine, Encycl. Rural Sports, § 4038. He was … an excellent ‘stopper,’ hitting with his right and stopping with his left.
† e. Tennis. (See quot. 1585.)
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Rich. III., 35 b. The best stopper that he hath at tenyce shall not wel stoppe without a faulte.
1550. Dice-Play (Percy Soc.), 43. Another was rid of his six hundred pounds, at tennis, in a week by the fraud of his stopper.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 296/2. Factor,… the stopper, or he that marketh the chase in playeng, at tennise specially.
f. A player whose office it is to stop balls; in Cricket, a wicket-keeper.
1744. in Lillywhite’s Scores (1862), I. Pref. 10. When ye Ball has been in Hand by one of ye Keepers or Stopers … He may go where he pleases till ye next Ball is bowled.
1847. Halliwell, Stopper, a person at tennis, football, and other games, who stops the balls.
1904. Daily Chron., 21 May, 9/4. This Sussex stumper … is the best ‘stopper’ in England.
2. Something that stops up a hole or passage.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Rombon, a stopper, Obturatorium.
1701. C. Wolley, Jrnl. New York (1860), 29. The surest … stopper of the Pores of their Bodies against the Winter’s cold.
1721. Mortimer, Husb., II. 333. To tun it up into a Cask,… which stop up only with a loose stopper for two or three Days;… put a Peg into the vent hole loose.
1768. Tucker, Lt. Nat., II. I. v. 98. Imagining … that the orifices of these nerves are provided with stoppers which the mind draws up at pleasure to give the animal spirits admittance.
1799. Sir T. Munro, in G. R. Gleig, Life, vii. (1849), 117. I pulled two stoppers of lint out of my ears.
1844. Dufton, Deafness, 85. Sometimes the stopper of wax is removed by a single syringing.
1875. E. White, Life in Christ, V. xxviii. (1878), 471. Thus the opponent’s mouth is shut with a stopper of his own invention.
1888. Rutley, Rock-Forming Min., 7. The stop-cock being closed and the stopper removed from the upper orifice.
fig. 1824. Miss Mitford, Village, I. 64. Lucy never intended to marry this commodious stopper of love-gaps.
b. spec. A plug for closing the neck of a bottle, the end of a tube, or the hole for the egress of fluid from any vessel.
Not usually applied to a cork or bung; most commonly it denotes a solid piece of glass, the lower part of which is shaped to fit the neck of a bottle, while the upper part is fashioned to serve as a handle.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 522. A Silver Tube, with a Silver Stopper.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills (1872), VI. 296. The Hole that let the Liquor run, Was wanting of a Stopper.
1807. T. Thomson, Chem. (ed. 3), II. 228. A phial closed with a ground stopper.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVII. 464/1. The patent caoutchouc stoppers, which, besides being … cheaper than corks, can [etc.].
1881. Tyndall, Ess. Floating-Matter of Air, 32. In a third series [of experiments] the cork stoppers used in the first and second series were abandoned, and glass stoppers employed.
1883. H. J. Powell, Glass-making, 74. Finally the stopper is ground into the mouth of the decanter.
1913. P. D. Scott-Moncrieff, Paganism & Chr. Egypt, ii. 25, note. The old ‘Canopic’ vases … had stoppers in the form of genii supposed to protect the dead.
fig. 1852. Thackeray, Esmond, III. ix. There is no such word as enough as a stopper for good wine.
c. A cork or plug for the mouth of a muzzle-loading musket, to keep out moisture and dust.
1802. C. James, Milit. Dict.
1859. F. A. Griffiths, Artill. Man. (1862), 38. The men will be directed to replace their stoppers.
d. = pipe stopper, tobacco stopper (see PIPE v.1 11 b; TOBACCO 3).
1622. J. Taylor (Water P.), Water-Cormorant, C 2. A pyde coat Page, Who … his Tobacco fils, With stopper, tongs, and other vtensils.
1693. Humours Town, 63. As the destruction of Pipes is the multiplication of Stoppers, so [etc.].
1731–8. Swift, Pol. Conversat., ii. Wks. VI. 328. They say, that the Corruption of Pipes, is the Generation of Stoppers.
1736. [I. H. Browne], Pipe of Tobacco, ii. 8. Lip of Wax, and Eye of Fire:… And thy swelling ashey Crest, With my little Stopper prest.
1885. J. Payn, Talk of Town, II. 201. Flattening the tobacco in his pipe with its stopper.
e. The plug of a ‘stopped’ organ-pipe.
1852. Seidel, Organ, 80. The stopping is effected by a sort of capsule, similar to the lid of a round brass box, called the stopper.
1879. Organ Voicing, 25. If … the stopper and joints of the pipe are sound.
f. = STOPPING vbl. sb. 4 d.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 207/2. The nail holes, &c., are stopped with hard-stopper made of dry lead mixed with Japan gold size.
1912. H. J. Butler, Motor Bodies, 115. Some add turps and tub lead to help the stopper to harden. This hard stopper is forced in carefully with the putty knife [etc.].
† 3. Anything that produces constipation. Obs.
1528. Paynell, Salerne’s Regim., M ij. Breadde made with littel leuen nourishethe moche, but the norishement therof is a stopper.
1584. Cogan, Haven Health, iv. 23. Bread ouersweete is a stopper.
† 4. Anat. (See quot. and OBTURATOR 1.) Obs.
1686. A. Snape, Anat. Horse, IV. cxx. 187. Two Muscles called Obturatores, or Stoppers, because they fill up the wide hole between the Os pubis and Hip-bone.
† 5. A shoemaker’s tool: = stopping-stick (STOPPING vbl. sb. 7). Obs.
1599. Dekker, Shoemaker’s Holiday, II. iii. (1610), C 3 b. Heark you skomaker, haue you al your tooles, a good rubbing pin, a good stopper, a good dresser [etc.].
6. The upper pad of the sole of a greyhound’s foot.
1853. ‘Stonehenge,’ Greyhound, vii. 158. When the cut is severe, as for instance, at the root of ‘the stopper.’ Ibid. (1856), Brit. Rural Sports, I. III. vii. 201. If a Stopper is detached from the leg…, it is far better to remove the hanging portion with the knife.
7. Something that causes to cease or brings to a stand. a. gen., esp. in the phrase to put a stopper on (? with mixture of sense 2), to put a stop to. colloq. or slang.
1828. Egan, Boxiana, IV. 188. The Lively Kid met with a stopper to his rush on the nob.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xl. If you don’t clap a stopper on that jaw of yours, by George, we’ll cobb you.
1841. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, lviii. If it rested with him to decide, he would put a final stopper on the bird, and his master too.
1859. Gen. P. Thompson, Audi Alt., II. xcix. 88. The stopper has been put upon the utterance of ideas on both sides the Channel.
1898. B. Burleigh, Sirdar & Khalifa, vii. 107. A bullet so treated expands mushroom fashion upon striking any object and becomes a veritable ‘stopper.’
1901. P. Kelly, in Wide World Mag., VI. 501/1. A hit, evidently, for the animal’s progress became immediately slower. Then Armstrong put in the stopper, his bullet piercing the neck.
1911. Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson, v. 56. As lover, I am rejected. But that rejection … is no stopper to my suit.
b. Mech. An appliance for stopping machinery.
1871. Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Watches, etc. 111. Whenever a stopper is pressed against the collar, the arbor, and therefore the seconds hand, ceases to rotate.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Stopper (Railway Engineering), A trailing-brake formerly used on inclined planes. It … was thrown into action by the pressure of the cars, if the rope broke.
1903. Westm. Gaz., 15 Jan., 2/1. Ramsbottom … invented … the weft-fork-stopper for looms. This stopper, as its name implies, stops the loom when the weft breaks.
c. Hunting. An obstacle that is impassable or causes delay.
1832. Q. Rev., XLVII. 237. The fence at the top is impracticable—Meltonicè, ‘a stopper;’ nothing for it but a gate, leading into a broad green lane.
1859. Eardley-Wilmot, Reminisc. T. Assheton Smith (1860), 44. The famous story of Lord Kintore coming once to a ‘stopper’ in the Vale of White Horse, which defied the whole field.
1859. Sporting Mag., March, 159. They … crossed the old canal, which was another stopper, and allowed the fox to get a long way ahead.
8. West Indian. A tree of the genus Eugenia.
1884. Sargent, Rep. Forests N. Amer., 88. Eugenia buxifolia.… Gurgeon Stopper. Spanish Stopper. Ibid., 89. Eugenia monticola.… Stopper. White Stopper. Ibid. Eugenia procera.… Red Stopper.
9. Naut. (See quots. 1769.)
For cat-, cathead-, dog-, ring-, wherrit-, wing-stopper, see the prefixed words.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 30. Nealed too, looke to your stoppers, your Anchor comes home, the ships a drift.
1644. Manwayring, Seamans Dict., 102.
1711. W. Sutherland, Shipbuild. Assist., 153. Stoppers of Anchors…. Stoppers of the Bit.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), s.v. Anchor, The anchor is suspended at the cat-head by its stopper. Ibid., Stoppers,… certain short pieces of rope, which are usually knotted at one, or both ends…. They are either used to suspend any weighty body, or to retain a cable, shroud, &c. in a fixed position [etc.].
1829. Marryat, F. Mildmay, xx. The stoppers were cut, and the anchors dropped.
b. Fisheries. (See quot.)
1883. R. F. Walsh, Ir. Fisheries (Fish. Exhib. Publ.), 11. At the bottom of the nets another rope runs from end to end, and this is called the ‘foot line.’… Suspended from this foot line … are other ropes, each 27 feet long, and called ‘stoppers.’
10. Comb. stopper-berry tree, the Barbados cherry, Malpighia glabra; stopper-bolt Naut. (see quots.); stopper-hitch Naut. (see quot.); stopper-hole (see quot.); stopper-knot Naut., a kind of knot used for the ends of stoppers; stopper-net (see quot.).
1750. G. Hughes, Barbados, 176. The *Stopper-Berry Tree; Lat. Malpighia.
1711. W. Sutherland, Shipbuild. Assist., 37. To have *Stopper-bolts for the Cables.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Stopper-bolt, a large ring-bolt driven in the deck of a ship before the main-hatch, for securing the stoppers to.
1876. Voyle & Stevenson, Milit. Dict., 410/2. *Stopper-hitch, a knot for stoppering the fall of a tackle, &c.
1869. S. J. V. Day, Puddling, in Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, In the lower side of the charging door an opening is formed called the *stopper-hole, through which the puddler introduces his rabble for working up the mass of iron.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 56. A thimble is spliced in one end and a ‘double wall’ or deck *stopper-knot, is made on the other.
1792. G. Cartwright, Jrnl. Labrador, I. Gloss. p. xv. *Stopper-net, a large net for catching seals, which is made to fit the place in which it is fixed.
Hence Stopperless a., without stoppers.
1863. Dickens, Uncomm. Trav., xxii. The stopperless cruets on the spindle-shanked sideboard were in a miserably dejected state.
