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▪ I. grasshopper, n.|ˈgrɑːshɒpə(r), ˈgræs-|
[f. grass n.1 + hopper1. Cf. LG. and Flemish (Kilian) grashopper, MSw. gräshoppare, G. gräshupfer.]
1. a. A name for orthopterous insects of the families Acridiidæ and Locustidæ, remarkable for their powers of leaping, and the chirping sound produced by the males (see quot. 1880). Occas. with allusion to Eccl. xii. 5.
(Coverdale sometimes uses the word where both the later versions and Wyclif have locust.)
14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 572/32 Cicada, a grashoppere. 14..MS. Sloane 4 lf. 80 in N. & Q. Ser. iii. (1864) VI. 4/1 Also a greshopper ys good, for dyuers fysshes must haue diuers baytys. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 165 They be blessed & happy that wyll apply & dispose themselfe with the greshopper to lepe vp as hye as they may. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Oct. 11 Such pleasaunce makes the Grashopper so poore. 1611Bible Eccl. xii. 5 The grashopper shall be a burden. c1611Chapman Iliad iii. 161 As in well-growne woods, on trees, cold spinie grashoppers Sit chirping. 1692L'Estrange Fables ccxvii. 189 An Ant and a Grasshopper. 1727–46Thomson Summer 446 Scarce a chirping grasshopper is heard Thro' the dumb mead. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 24 May, My uncle..bolted through the window as nimble as a grasshopper. 1880Encycl. Brit. XI. 60/1 In Britain the term is chiefly applicable to the large green grasshopper (Locusta viridissima)..and to smaller and more obscure species of the genera Stenobothrus, Gomphocerus, and Tettix. 1882Contemp. Rev. Aug. 230 The principal breeding grounds of that formidable pest, the locust or grass-hopper, known to entomologists as Caloptenus spretus. 1886Besant Childr. Gibeon ii. vi. II. 54 These old people hear the voice of the grasshopper continually..They hate the voice of the grasshopper.
b. fig. As a term of derision or reproach.
1561J. Daus Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 114 The Pope..defending them [errors] by his vngratious Grashoppers that eate vp all thynges. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 28 b, For I accompt it sufficient to pinche that seely abject grashopper Dalmada now & then in the chase. 1788F. Burney Diary 13 Feb., In two minutes more he will be somewhere else, skipping backwards and forwards; what a grasshopper it is! 1935N. & Q. CLXIX, 365 Use of animal names as epithets to man... Grasshopper, undependable; mental effort inconstant and purpose shifting. 1968Listener 27 June 827/3 My natural inclination was to watch the screen for a moment, then look away, then look back again. This, after I began to study my own behaviour, turned out to be the way I watched not just the news but all television. I was the grasshopper viewer; and, I suspect, but one of millions of grasshopper viewers.
c. Rhyming slang = copper n.4 Also ellipt. grass. (Cf. also quot. 1955 s.v. grass n.1 12.)
1893in Farmer & Henley Dict. Slang. 1907Daily Chron. 1 Apr. 4/4 The criminal classes always speak of policemen as ‘grasshoppers’. 1938F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad 330 Grasshopper, a policeman. 1939H. Hodge Cab, Sir? xv. 222 A policeman is the usual cockney ‘Grass’ (copper, grass-hopper). 1950[see grasser2].
d. (See quot. 1956.) U.S. slang.
1942Pop. Sci. Jan. 63 Grasshoppers{ddd}that's what the army calls its new odd-job planes. 1956W. A. Heflin U.S.A.F. Dict. 234 Grasshopper, any small, light, cabin monoplane used for observation, liaison, or training.
†2. An alleged name for the hare. Obs.
a1325Names Hare in Rel. Ant. I. 133 The grashoppere.
3. In a pianoforte: = hopper1 9.
1807Specif. W. Southwell's Patent No. 3029. 2 The end of the grasshopper hath pressed up the connecting rod l, h, which by its pressure on the tail of the hammer, hath caused it to give the stroke. 1845G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. IV. 160 To give the technical terms applied to all these little pieces would be of no use; for after saying that the key acts on the grass⁓hopper..we have done but little towards explaining the particular construction and action of each.
4. An artificial bait for fish.
1867F. Francis Angling viii. (1880) 298 The grasshopper, so-called,..though actually an artificial bait, in nowise resembles a grasshopper. 1889‘John Bickerdyke’ Bk. All-round Angler iii. 99 The ‘grasshopper’ is cast in likely spots and worked with a sink-and-draw motion near the bottom.
5. attrib. and Comb., as grasshopper-like adj.; grasshopper-beam, a form of working-beam in steam-engines, pivoted at one end instead of in the centre (hence grasshopper-engine, grasshopper-principle); grasshopper-lark = grasshopper-warbler; grasshopper-march (see quot.); grasshopper mouse, either of two species of North American mice belonging to the genus Onychomys; grasshopper-sparrow, a small sparrow of the U.S. of the genus Coturniculus, so called from its note; † grasshopper-spring (see quot. 1794); grasshopper-warbler, a small warbler, Locustella nævia, so called from its note; grasshopper year, a year when the crops are destroyed by grasshoppers.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Grasshopper-beam.
1888Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., *Grasshopper engine.
1768G. White Selborne xvi. (1789) 45 The *grasshopper-lark began his sibilous note in my fields last Saturday. 1827Hone Every-day Bk. II. 514 The.. little grasshopper lark..runs whispering within the hedgerows.
1768G. White Selborne xix. (1789) 55 This last [sort of willow-wren]..makes a sibilous *grasshopper-like noise.
1884Brit. Stand. Handbks. Sports & Past. II. iv. 23 The *Grasshopper March. Jump along the bars backwards and forwards with both arms. The arms of course must be bent a little to give the necessary spring.
1904W. T. Hornaday Amer. Nat. Hist. vii. 91/1 The *Grasshopper Mouse..strongly resembles the white-footed mouse. 1964E. P. Walker et al. Mammals of World II. 779/2 Grasshopper mice live in practically any shelter they can find at ground level.
1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 100 By the side of the winding engine is the long row of blowing engines, on *grasshopper and other principles.
1883Encycl. Amer. I. 530/1 The *grasshopper sparrows (Coturniculus passerinus, C. henslowi, C. lecontii).
1794W. Felton Carriages (1801) II. 188 The *grass hopper spring is a peculiarly formed spring which fixes under the shaft of a one-horse chaise to the axletree. 1822Monthly Mag. Oct., Modern coaches, constructed of one piece, and resting on what are called grasshopper springs.
1839–43Yarrell Hist. Birds I. 263 The *Grasshopper Warbler is found within a few miles north of London, and also in Surrey.
1880Scribner's Monthly July 458/1 Then came 1875 and 1876, which were ‘*grass⁓hopper years’ when no crops of consequence were raised in the whole state. 1949Chicago Tribune 5 June 1/3 He predicted it will be the worst grasshopper year since 1936.
Hence ˈgrasshoppering vbl. n., (a) living improvidently like a grasshopper (in quot. attrib.); (b) fishing with a ‘grasshopper’ bait; ˈgrasshopperish a., somewhat resembling a grasshopper; ˈgrasshoppery a. = grass-hopperish adj.
1803M. G. Lewis Let. 9 Nov. in Mem. T. Moore (1856) VIII. 46, I thought it high time that your grashoppering system should be at an end, and that you should begin to collect a provision of corn against the winter. 1872W. S. Symonds Rec. Rocks vi. 199 In former days, when ‘grasshoppering’ was allowed there, I have taken many a basketful [of grayling] from the gravelly Teme. 1883‘Eha’ Tribes on my Frontier 80 Long-legged, green, grasshopperish animals. 1921‘K. Mansfield’ Let. 21 July (1928) II. 121 If only one could make some small grasshoppery sound of praise. 1926Brit. Weekly 2 Sept. 456/4 She announces the result in her little grasshoppery voice.
Add:[3.] b. Horology. = grasshopper escapement, sense *5 below.
1899F. J. Britten Old Clocks & Watches 216 John Harrison..devised a peculiar form of recoil escapement..generally called the ‘grass-hopper’. 1984Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Apr. 359/4 He has a sound knowledge of the craft and mechanisms of the later period: detents, cylinders, rack levers and grasshoppers.
[5.] grasshopper escapement Horology, a type of recoil escapement (see recoil n. 5 c) which requires no lubrication.
1904F. J. Britten Old Clocks & Watches (ed. 2) v. 322 Another long case clock..fitted with the *grasshopper escapement..now belongs to..Mr. W. W. Nicholson. 1973A. Bird Eng. House Clocks: 1600–1850 ix. 168 The ‘grasshopper’ escapement..was theoretically inferior to the dead-beat, as it required a fairly wide angle of swing..and had to rely upon recoil to perform the unlocking.
▪ II. ˈgrasshopper, v.
[f. the n.]
intr. To live, or jump, like a grasshopper. Also with over.
1873J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxxii. 704 When they spar [= push (a steam-boat) with poles] thus on both sides, they are said to ‘grasshopper over’. 1956‘A. Gilbert’ Riddle of Lady i. 12 [We] enjoy ourselves..by working. We shouldn't get any fun out of grasshoppering. 1966D. Varaday Gara-Yaka's Domain iii. 32 All others were ignored, even one that grass-hoppered directly into her path. 1966J. Fowles Magus xxxvii. 230 My mind travelled up to the Bonnards, and grasshoppered from them to Alison. |