tippler

English

Etymology

From tipple +‎ -er (“agent”). “Seller” sense from 1396; “drinker” sense from 1580.

Noun

tippler (plural tipplers)

1. (obsolete) A seller of alcoholic liquors; keeper of a tippling-house or tavern.
   • 1567, regulation, quoted in 1894, William John Monk, History of Witney, page 111:

     It is decrede that no tippler shall allow any unlawful games in his howse.

   • 1641 April 13, “By the Major. The Order of the House of Commons to the Lord Major, for the due observing the Sabbath day”, in Speeches and passages of this great and happy Parliament, page 400:

     [...] and that expresse charge be given to every keeper of any Tavern, Inne, Cookshouse, Tobacco-house, Alehouse, or any other tipler or victualler whatsoever within your ward, [...]

   • 1876, Stephen Dowell, A sketch of the history of Taxes in England from the earliest times to the present day, vol. 1, page 356:

     and a penalty is omposed on the sale or delivery of any ale or beer, except for household use, to any person who sells it as a common tippler or ale-house keeper, unless he has a license in force.

2. A habitual drinker; a bibber.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter XI, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII:

     […] they had picked up two fellows in that day’s march, one of which, he said, was as fine a man as ever he saw (meaning the tippler),

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 47:

     He had, in truth, drunk very little - not a fourth of the quantity which a systematic tippler could carry to church on a Sunday afternoon without a hitch in his eastings or genuflections[.]

3. A breed of domestic pigeon bred to participate in endurance competitions.
4. (UK, railroad) An open wagon with a tipping trough, unloaded by being inverted (used for bulk cargo, especially minerals). A minecart, a lorry.
   • 1955, New South Wales. Department of Mines, Report of the Department of Mines, New South Wales, page 44:

     Ackers was working as a tippler operator. His mate, L. Beveridge, saw that Ackers had tipped a full skip and Beveridge allowed another full skip to gravitate to Acker's tippler.

5. (mining) One who works at a tipple.
6. Alternative form of tipple, a revolving frame or cage in which a truck or wagon is inverted to discharge its load.
   • 1964 May, “News and Comment: A Scottish coal circuit working”, in Modern Railways, page 299, photo caption:

     Unloading is by tipplers on to a moving conveyor at the power station, which naturally involves uncoupling individual wagons.

Synonyms

• (drinker): bibber; See also Thesaurus:drunkard

Translations

seller of liquors

• Finnish: kapakoitsija (fi)

habitual drinker

• Arabic: مُعَاقِر الخَمْر m (muʕāqir al-ḵamr), شَارِب الخَمْر m (šārib al-ḵamr)
• Finnish: juoppo (fi) (heavy drinker), tissuttelija (fi) (not so heavy, but regular)
• Latin: bibōnius m
• Persian: می‌خوار (mey-xâr)
• Scottish Gaelic: pòitear m

breed of pigeon

Anagrams

• Lippert, ripplet