trimmer
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: architecture
ball-games
business
cricket
economics
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
fishing
games
hobbies
lifestyle
mining
natural-sciences
nautical
physical-sciences
physics
sciences
shipping
sports
transport
Etymology: From trim + -er. Figurative sense of “person who changes views with prevailing opinions” from 1680s, from nautical sense of “adjust sails with the wind”.
Base: trim
Affixes: -er
Inflected forms:
form: trimmers
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: One who trims, arranges, fits, or ornaments.
pos: noun
examples: 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.”
gloss: A device used to trim.
pos: noun
examples: My new electric shaver has a beard trimmer attachment.
gloss: A member of the crew who trims the sails.
pos: noun
gloss: Someone who fluctuates between opposing factions, political parties etc., according to current interest, a flip-flopper.
pos: noun
examples: Thus Halifax was a Trimmer on principle.
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.
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.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
gloss: A person employed to rearrange the coal in the hold of a vessel, so that it fills the vessel without forming a conical blockage.
pos: noun
tags: historical
examples: 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.
gloss: A device for storing coal in gradually increasing piles made by building up at the point of the cone or top of the prism.
pos: noun
tags: historical
gloss: A float bearing a baited hook and line, used in fishing for pike.
pos: noun
gloss: An adjustable electrical component.
pos: noun
gloss: One who or that which trims, or rebukes or reproves; a scold.
pos: noun
tags: dated
examples: Mr. Hazeldean wrote him such a trimmer that it could not but produce an unconciliatory reply.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
Derived words: beard trimmer
bush trimmer
headsail trimmer
hedge trimmer
mainsail trimmer
mainsheet trimmer
nail trimmer
nose trimmer
sail trimmer
shrub trimmer
strimmer
string trimmer
wing trimmer
Translations: