FLIPPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does flipper mean? 

• FLIPPER (noun)
  The noun FLIPPER has 2 senses:

1. a shoe for swimming; the paddle-like front is an aid in swimming (especially underwater)

2. the flat broad limb of aquatic animals specialized for swimming

  Familiarity information: FLIPPER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLIPPER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A shoe for swimming; the paddle-like front is an aid in swimming (especially underwater)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fin; flipper

Hypernyms ("flipper" is a kind of...):

shoe (footwear shaped to fit the foot (below the ankle) with a flexible upper of leather or plastic and a sole and heel of heavier material)

Derivation:

flip (move with a flick or light motion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The flat broad limb of aquatic animals specialized for swimming

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("flipper" is a kind of...):

limb (one of the jointed appendages of an animal used for locomotion or grasping: arm; leg; wing; flipper)

Holonyms ("flipper" is a part of...):

aquatic vertebrate (animal living wholly or chiefly in or on water)

aquatic mammal (whales and dolphins; manatees and dugongs; walruses; seals)

Derivation:

flip (move with a flick or light motion)

 Context examples 

He raised himself on his flippers with an angry movement.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“I am glad to meet you, sir,” said he, putting out a broad, fat hand like the flipper of a seal.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was not until one of these creatures wriggled on to a sand-bank within a few hundred yards of us, and exposed a barrel-shaped body and huge flippers behind the long serpent neck, that Challenger, and Summerlee, who had joined us, broke out into their duet of wonder and admiration.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I know men club them,” I said, trying to reassure myself, and gazing doubtfully at a large bull, not thirty feet away, upreared on his fore-flippers and regarding me intently.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)