A Hopper Feeds by Gravity
A hopper is a funnel-shaped container. It is named for the hopping motion of the mill part it originally described.
A hopper is a container tapering downwards so its contents feed out by gravity. The name came from milling: the box feeding grain to the millstones shook or *hopped* as the machinery turned, and the word attached to the container. It also names an insect that hops, and a railway wagon that unloads through its floor.
- A funnel-shaped container. *A grain hopper.*
- A jumping insect. *A grasshopper.*
- A railway wagon. *A coal hopper.*
- One who hops. *A bar hopper.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | hopper | A feed hopper. |
| Plural | hoppers | Two hoppers. |
| Verb | hop | Hop across. |
| Compound | grasshopper | A green grasshopper. |
| Related | hopscotch | Playing hopscotch. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The hopper feeds the machine.Industry.
- Hopper wagons unload from below.Railways.
- Grace Hopper found a real bug in a computer.A moth, in 1947.
Hopper compounds
- Grasshopper — the insect
- Hopper wagon — a railway truck unloading through the floor
- Feed hopper — a container supplying a machine
- Job hopper — someone who changes employment often
- Island hopper — a short-distance flight between islands
From *hop*, Old English *hoppian*, to leap. The milling sense is recorded from the fourteenth century.
Why is it called a hopper?
From the shaking motion of the grain container in a working mill, which appeared to hop as the machinery ran.
Are hops the plant related?
No. The brewing hop comes from a separate Germanic word for the climbing plant.