Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that wipes.
  • noun Something, such as a towel, used for wiping.
  • noun A device designed for wiping, as on an automobile windshield.
  • noun A projecting cam, as on a rotating shaft, that activates another machine part.
  • noun A movable electrical contact, as in a rheostat.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who or that which wipes.
  • noun That on which anything is wiped, as a hand-towel or a handkerchief.
  • noun In machinery, a piece projecting generally from a horizontal axle, for the purpose of raising stampers, pounders, or pistons in a vertical direction and letting them fall by their own weight. Wipers are employed in fulling-mills, stamping-mills, oil-mills, powder-mills, etc. Also wipe.
  • noun A steel implement for cleaning the bore of a musket, etc.
  • noun Same as wiper-wheel. See the extract and also wipe-spark.
  • noun A ring in a shaft-bearing, resting by its inner surface on the top of the shaft and hanging with its bottom elements in a bath of oil. As the shaft revolves the ring turns slowly with it, and brings up the oily parts of its surface which are wiped off by the grooves in which the ring is steadied.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who, or that which, wipes.
  • noun Something used for wiping, as a towel or rag.
  • noun (Mach.) A piece generally projecting from a rotating or swinging piece, as an axle or rock shaft, for the purpose of raising stampers, lifting rods, or the like, and leaving them to fall by their own weight; a kind of cam.
  • noun (Firearms) A rod, or an attachment for a rod, for holding a rag with which to wipe out the bore of the barrel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun something, such as a towel, that is used for wiping
  • noun something, such as a windscreen wiper, that is designed for wiping
  • noun a movable electric contact in some device
  • noun nautical A junior role in the engine room of a ship, someone who wipes down machinery and generally keeps it clean.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a worker who wipes
  • noun a mechanical device that cleans the windshield
  • noun contact consisting of a conducting arm that rotates over a series of fixed contacts and comes to rest on an outlet

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Dirt entry and corrosion problems have led to improvements in wiper designs with the introduction of an external flap on the wiping lip to prevent the entry of dirt via the outer diameter of the wiper.

    Next Sealed | SciFi, Fantasy & Horror Collectibles 2009

  • That reminds me of a story – my windshield wiper is broken.

    MARK CUBAN IS INCREDIBLY CREEPY 2008

  • So when I need to know what the black rubbery thingummy on a windscreen wiper is called, I can look up windscreen wiper in the index, turn to the appropriate picture, and learn that it's a wiper blade rubber.

    The Naming of Parts L. Lee Lowe 2006

  • So when I need to know what the black rubbery thingummy on a windscreen wiper is called, I can look up windscreen wiper in the index, turn to the appropriate picture, and learn that it's a wiper blade rubber.

    Archive 2006-09-01 L. Lee Lowe 2006

  • Advanced Frameless Design ... and Integrated High-Downforce Spoiler” and “[t] he latest Michelin wiper blades on the market are all new and improved ... adding functional features such as spoilers for improved wiper performance.”

    "New and improved" claim leads to old result Rebecca Tushnet 2009

  • Advanced Frameless Design ... and Integrated High-Downforce Spoiler” and “[t] he latest Michelin wiper blades on the market are all new and improved ... adding functional features such as spoilers for improved wiper performance.”

    Archive 2009-07-01 Rebecca Tushnet 2009

  • The tortilla is his eating tool and his chin wiper.

    A Mexican pig party 2008

  • The tortilla is his eating tool and his chin wiper.

    A Mexican pig party 2008

  • For a split second there, I had this great fantasy that you were clipping the 'wiper' to a clay pigeon thrower and we were going to see some fun target pratice!

    Gallery Flambeau Video James Gurney 2009

  • Two pails of water flanked this rack, in each of which had been thrust a slotted hickory "wiper" threaded with a square of cloth.

    The Adventures of Bobby Orde Stewart Edward White 1909

Comments

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  • "They cut my pay down just as off-hand as they do the pay of any dirty little wiper in the yard."

    - Frank Norris, The Octopus, ch. 1

    August 9, 2008