hopper

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a funnel-shaped container through which loose material is stored or fed into a machine

   The miller poured the grain into the hopper above the rollers.

2. 2
   noun

   a person or animal that hops, especially a grasshopper or related jumping insect

   A tiny leaf hopper sprang from the stem when the plant moved.

3. 3
   noun

   a machine or device used for picking or processing hops

   The harvested vines passed through the hopper before the hops were dried.

From Middle English hoppere, formed from hop + -er. The earliest sense named something that hops; the container sense probably arose from devices that shook or hopped as they fed grain or other material downward.

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