STOPPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does stopper mean? 

• STOPPER (noun)
  The noun STOPPER has 4 senses:

1. an act so striking or impressive that the show must be delayed until the audience quiets down

2. a remark to which there is no polite conversational reply

3. (bridge) a playing card with a value sufficiently high to insure taking a trick in a particular suit

4. blockage consisting of an object designed to fill a hole tightly

  Familiarity information: STOPPER used as a noun is uncommon.

• STOPPER (verb)
  The verb STOPPER has 1 sense:

1. close or secure with or as if with a stopper

  Familiarity information: STOPPER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STOPPER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An act so striking or impressive that the show must be delayed until the audience quiets down

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

show-stopper; showstopper; stopper

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

act; bit; number; routine; turn (a short performance that is part of a longer program)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A remark to which there is no polite conversational reply

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

conversation stopper; stopper

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

comment; input; remark (a statement that expresses a personal opinion or belief or adds information)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(bridge) a playing card with a value sufficiently high to insure taking a trick in a particular suit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

if my partner has a spade stopper I can bid no trump

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

playing card (one of a pack of cards that are used to play card games)

Domain category:

bridge (any of various card games based on whist for four players)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Blockage consisting of an object designed to fill a hole tightly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

plug; stopper; stopple

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

block; blockage; closure; occlusion; stop; stoppage (an obstruction in a pipe or tube)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "stopper"):

bung; spile (a plug used to close a hole in a barrel or flask)

bottle cork; cork (the plug in the mouth of a bottle (especially a wine bottle))

drainplug (a removable plug for holding water in a tub or basin)

earplug (a plug of cotton, wax, or rubber that is fitted into the ear canal for protection against the entry of water or loud noise)

fipple (a wooden plug forming a flue pipe (as the mouthpiece of a recorder))

tampion; tompion (plug for the muzzle of a gun to keep out dust and moisture)

tampon (plug of cotton or other absorbent material; inserted into wound or body cavity to absorb exuded fluids (especially blood))

spigot; tap (a plug for a bunghole in a cask)

Derivation:

stop (render unsuitable for passage)

stopper (close or secure with or as if with a stopper)

• STOPPER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they stopper    ... he / she / it stoppers   
Past simple: stoppered   
Past participle: stoppered   
-ing form: stoppering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Close or secure with or as if with a stopper

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

stopper; stopple

Context example:

The mothers stoppered their babies' mouths with pacifiers

Hypernyms (to "stopper" is one way to...):

plug; secure; stop up (fill or close tightly with or as if with a plug)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

stopper (blockage consisting of an object designed to fill a hole tightly)

 Context examples 

“You must put a stopper on ’im gov’nor,” said several of the other prize-fighters.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

After some search, it was found in the box, at the bottom of a horse's nose-bag; wherein (besides hay) there was discovered an old gold watch, with chain and seals, which Mr. Barkis had worn on his wedding-day, and which had never been seen before or since; a silver tobacco-stopper, in the form of a leg; an imitation lemon, full of minute cups and saucers, which I have some idea Mr. Barkis must have purchased to present to me when I was a child, and afterwards found himself unable to part with; eighty-seven guineas and a half, in guineas and half-guineas; two hundred and ten pounds, in perfectly clean Bank notes; certain receipts for Bank of England stock; an old horseshoe, a bad shilling, a piece of camphor, and an oyster-shell.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)