tipper

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableBritish

   A truck with a back part that lifts up to pour out sand, stones, or waste.

   Grammar: Countable: say a tipper or two tippers; it names the vehicle, not the load.

   Patterns

   • a tipper truck
   • drive a tipper
   • load a tipper

   The driver backed the tipper up to the hole and raised the bed.

   They hired a tipper to take the rubble away from the site.

   A line of tippers waited at the quarry gate.

2. 2nouncountable

   A person who gives extra money to a waiter, driver, or other worker for good service.

   Grammar: Countable and used for people: a good tipper, a generous tipper.

   Patterns

   • a generous tipper
   • a poor tipper
   • be a big tipper

   She is a generous tipper and always leaves something extra.

   The waiters liked serving him because he was a good tipper.

   In some countries, being a poor tipper is seen as rude.

Word forms

Common combinations

tipper truck

A tipper truck rumbled past, its bed still raised.

tipper lorry

The tipper lorry dumped a load of gravel in the driveway.

a generous tipper

He is known as a generous tipper at the hotel.

hire a tipper

We had to hire a tipper to clear the garden waste.

tip the load

The driver tipped the load beside the new road.

Synonyms and how they differ

dump truck

The usual American term for the vehicle; use it in US texts and tipper in British ones.

dumper

A smaller machine that carries and tips loads on building sites, not a full road truck.

donor

Only a rough match for the person sense: a donor gives money to an organization, not extra money for service.

Word family

tip verb

To make something lean and pour out its contents.

tip noun

Extra money given for service, or the act of pouring something out.

tipping noun

The practice of giving extra money for service.

Commonly confused: tipper or tippler? tipper or topper?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “tipper”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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