α. 1500s– hooper.
β. 1600s whopper, 1600s whupper, 1600s– whooper.
whoopern.
/ˈwuːpə/, /ˈhuːpə/, /ˈwʊpə/, /ˈhʊpə/, U.S. /ˈ(h)wupər/, /ˈhupər/, /ˈ(h)wʊpər/, /ˈwʊpər/ 1. A bird that makes a whooping sound.† b. jenny whooper Obsolete rare the tawny owl, Strix aluco, which has a hooting call (cf. jenny n. 2a).In quot. 1600 translating French chat-huant tawny owl. Cf. jill-hooter n., whooping owl n.
a. In full whooper swan. A large white migratory swan, Cygnus cygnus, breeding in northern Eurasia and having a deep honking call.Formerly called wild swan in distinction from the partly domesticated mute swan ( C. olor), but in early use not distinguished from other species such as Bewick's swan ( C. bewickii). The trumpeter swan of North America ( C. buccinator) is sometimes treated as a form of the same species. See also whistling swan n.
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the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Cyginae (swans) > [noun] > member of genus Cygnus (miscellaneous) > cygnus cygnus (whooper)
elk1552
whooper1553
whistling swan1785
whooping swan1802
trumpeter swan1842
trumpeter1891
α.
β. 1660 R. May Accomplisht Cook 201 To bake all manner of Sea fowl, as Swan, Whopper, to be eaten cold.1705 W. Salmon Family-dict. (ed. 3) /2 This especially is an excellent Sauce for Whoopers, Swans, Cranes, Shovelers, Herns, and Bitterns.1880 S. Baring-Gould Mehalah I. i. 3 Occasionally the whooper swan sounds his loud trumpet.1994 A. L. Price Swans of World iv. 107 The Whooper was also hunted in Iceland where it still nests.2009 J. Struthers Red Sky at Night 45 The whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) spends each spring and summer in Iceland before flying into Britain in October and staying for six months.1553 J. Withals Shorte Dict. f. 6/2 A hooper or wilde swanne, onocrotalus.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. ii. v. 156 Besides the common sort of Swans, there is a wild kind, called Hooper, having the wind-pipe going down to the bottom of the breast-bone, and then reversed upwards in the figure of the Letter S.
1849 E. Blyth et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom (new ed.) 262 Audubon's Swan..fully equals the European Hooper Swan in size.
1951 A. A. Thomson Highland Welcome ix. 150 Coll and Tiree are not thickly populated with human habitants, but they are the island homes of countless wild birds and sometimes the splendid Hooper swan pays them a royal visit for the sake of nesting.
2018 @aquasulis1998 23 Feb. in twitter.com (accessed 17 July 2020) There are 11 swans on the quarry lake. Bewick or Hoopers not sure which.
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1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique i. xxii. 122 To preuent the danger of owles and iennie whuppers [Fr. hiboux et chats-huants].
c. North American. The whooping crane, Grus americana. Also (in full grey whooper, sandhill whooper): the sandhill crane, Antigone canadensis.
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1860 Southern Cultivator 18 324 Here [i.e. in Florida] is found every grade, kind, size, and color..from the beautiful little morning Dove..to the tall Whooper, of 5 or 6 feet high.
1886 Frank Leslie's Pop. Monthly Oct. 503/1 The scattered fields of sod corn..are beset..with huge droves of long-legged ‘whoopers’.
1938 C. H. Matschat Suwannee River 286 It is the favorite haunt of the gray whoopers.
1979 Time 2 Apr. 23/3 Whatever he felt about the whooper, Carter appreciated the award, which recognized his support for environmental protection and recreation.
2008 C. Johnson & J. Smith Wingshooter's Guide Montana (new ed.) 77 Sandhill Crane... Local Names:..gray crane, upland crane, sandhill whooper.
2010 K. Schlyer in K. Nigge Whooping Crane 24 Only one Wisconsin whooper in almost a decade has fledged from reintroduced parents.
2. A person that whoops; spec. a noisy or enthusiastic supporter, audience member, etc. (cf. whooper-up n. 1). Also occasionally: an animal that makes a whooping or howling sound.In quot. 1648 apparently in a local name referring to the noisy disturbances attributed to the unquiet ghost of a murder victim.
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the world > animals > by noises > [noun] > that hoots
whooper1648
hooter1673
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > other vocal sounds > [noun] > whoop or hoot > person
whooper1648
1648 R. J. Compunction xiv. 134 A voyce was heard in that place of one hollowing and whooping, at which all were afraid..; and asked by strangers what it was, It is (said they) the Whooper of the Wood, and made no more of it.
1682 Impartial Protestant Mercury 28 Mar. His Lordship Reprimanded the Sheriff, Fined the Jailer, and caused several of those Whoopers to be taken into Custody.
1826 R. Southey Let. 11 Feb. in Sel. Lett. (1856) III. 527 Two of my whoopers still favour us with a little kennel-music.
1841 J. Cobb Green Hand's First Cruise I. x. 160 The singers, the jokers, the swearers, the whoopers, the stormers, and the roarers! one by one dropped off, till the whole were silenced.
1908 Academy 27 June 926/2 The whoopers and the screamers and the female stump-orators.
1925 Amer. Mercury May 31/1 The New England Puritan of the Seventeenth Century was still a far different animal from the revival whooper of today.
2020 thetimes.co.uk (Nexis) 1 May The Thursday evening ritual: clappers and cheerers, whoopers and pan-clangers.
3. colloquial. A device which makes a loud whooping noise as a warning or signal; a siren or hooter. Somewhat rare.
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1880 Sat. Rev. 5 June 720/1 There are middle-aged persons who were born before steam ‘whoopers’ or ‘devils’ were invented to waken the working-man from his morning slumbers.
1979 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 13 Aug. 5 a/3 A few seconds after the captain called for the landing gear to be extended.., the ground proximity warming system whooper sounded.
2013 R. A. Lupoff Classic Car Killer iv. 65 From outside.., Lindsey heard an ambulance whooper. The whooper stopped and there was a pounding on the mansion's front door.
Phrases
† whoopers hide: a children's game resembling hide and seek, in which one or more players have to look for others who have hidden themselves and who shout ‘whoop’, either as a signal that they are hidden, or before moving from one hiding place to another in order to confuse those looking for them. Also in figurative or allusive use. Cf. whoop n.1 4, whoop v. Phrases. Obsolete.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > hiding or chasing game > [noun] > hide-and-seek
belly-blind?a1500
buck-hide?a1500
king-by-your-leave1572
all hid1598
wink all hid1609
hoopers hide1684
whoopers hide1684
whoop and hide1710
hide-and-seek1724
whoop1784
keek-bogle1791
hide-and-coop1850
billy-blind-
buck-hood-
1684 in N. Thompson Choice Coll. Loyal Songs 138 His Wife with Willy, was playing at Hoopers-hide.
1710 Auction of State Pictures 10 Look here, here's the Picture of an Eminent Lord playing at Hooper's Hide with Religion.
1714 A. Smith Hist. Lives Highway-men 241 The Goldsmith cry'd, Hey, hey, is this a place to play in at Whoopers Hide? Get you gone, you young Rogue, and play in the Streets.
1753 Wks. late A. Hill 9 Hoodwink'd, at whooper's hide, to hunt salvation, They guard their back-held nose from demonstration.
1831 Devil's Pulpit (1882) 297 The annual Egyptian ceremony of seeking for Ammon, the God that hides himself, the everlasting game of Hooper's Hide, or hide and seek, is enjoined in a thousand beautiful recitatives of our own Ammonian.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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