trimmer
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɹɪmə/
Forms: form: trimmers
Etymology: From trim + -er.
Senses: examples: text: It put me to endless expense of having roof-men, gutter-men and tree-trimmers. At last I gave the grim order, “Cut her down.”
ref: 1944, Emily Carr, “Life Loves Living”, in The House of All Sorts:
glosses: One who trims, arranges, fits, or ornaments.
examples: text: My new electric shaver has a beard trimmer attachment.
glosses: A device used to trim.
topics: nautical
transport
synonyms: sail trimmer
glosses: A member of the crew who trims the sails.
examples: text: Thus Halifax was a Trimmer on principle.
ref: 1848, Baron Macaulay, History of England, I.2:
text: What do you love most?
 Most of all, I love being alive. I love the natural world—and caring and creative people—and the seekers of justice and truth. Whom do I disdain? Bigots, reactionaries, self-righteous people, zealots, trimmers, bullies, and manipulators.
ref: 1999, Bill Moyers, “Stanley Kunitz”, in Fooling With Words : A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 6:
text: Lady Margaret Beaufort's third husband, Lord Stanley, an accomplished political trimmer, gave fair words but little commitment: the vast, well-armed Stanley retinues shadowed Henry's route southeast to the battlefield and waited, detached, to see how the chips fell.
ref: 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 9:
glosses: Someone who fluctuates between opposing factions, political parties etc., according to current interest, a flip-flopper.
topics: architecture
glosses: A beam into which are framed the ends of headers in floor framing, as when a hole is to be left for stairs, or to avoid bringing joists near chimneys.
examples: text: Trimmers are used to stow the coal in the vessel, and, in the case of vessels with awkwardly-situated cargo spaces, a great deal of trimming may be involved. Vessels specially constructed for coal carrying have very wide hatches, and these may be easy trimmers, that is, need only a minimum of trimmers or self trimmers which require only the final cover of coal over each hold to be levelled down by trimmers. Trimmers are employed by the shipowners and they are paid tonnage rates.
ref: 1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 11:
topics: economics
sciences
shipping
transport
glosses: A person employed to rearrange the coal in the hold of a vessel, so that it fills the vessel without forming a conical blockage.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A device for storing coal in gradually increasing piles made by building up at the point of the cone or top of the prism.
topics: fishing
hobbies
lifestyle
glosses: A float bearing a baited hook and line, used in fishing for pike.
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: An adjustable electrical component.
examples: text: Mr. Hazeldean wrote him such a trimmer that it could not but produce an unconciliatory reply.
ref: 1853, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, My Novel, or Varieties in English Life:
glosses: One who or that which trims, or rebukes or reproves; a scold.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A fast, high-quality delivery by the bowler, especially one that results in a dismissal of a batter by removing the bails without hitting the stumps.
Derived terms: bush trimmer
headsail trimmer
hedge trimmer
mainsail trimmer
mainsheet trimmer
nail trimmer
nose trimmer
sail trimmer
shrub trimmer
string trimmer
wing trimmer