chipper

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   cheerful, lively, and in good spirits

   She looked surprisingly chipper after the long journey.

2. 2
   noun

   a person or machine that cuts or breaks material into chips

   Workers fed the trimmed branches into the wood chipper.

3. 3
   verb

   informal, usually with up: to make or become more cheerful

   A swim in the river chippered them up before breakfast.

The adjective is probably an alteration of English dialect kipper, 'lively or frisky,' of uncertain origin. The machine noun is independently formed from chip + -er. The informal verb chipper up developed from the cheerful adjective.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary