jumper1
/ˈdʒʌmpə
/noun
1British A knitted garment typically with long sleeves, worn over the upper body.She was wearing a black jumper, body warmer, black trousers and brown boots with a fur lining....
- Sams wears organic linen shirts and jumpers Fairley has knitted for him from organic wool.
- Terri was very skinny, and invariably wore huge, brightly coloured and loosely knitted jumpers which hung on her (rather aptly) like camouflage netting.
2 historical A loose outer jacket worn by sailors.
3North American A pinafore dress.I am in a red jumper, white blouse and tights and black Mary Janes with a small scuff on the left toe....
- The plump and harried mother, dressed in a denim jumper, drives a battered Econo-Van with numerous dents.
- She wore a tattered denim jumper and a white shirt that matched the spotted peeling wallpaper, and she knew nothing of wealth.
Origin
Mid 19th century (in sense 2): probably from dialect jump 'short coat', perhaps from Scots jupe 'a man's (later also a woman's) loose jacket or tunic', via Old French from Arabic jubba. Compare with jibba.
Rhymes
jumper2
/ˈdʒʌmpə/noun
1A person or animal that jumps: the horse should be a better jumper this season other players in the line-out may only move when the jumper has touched the ball an Olympic jumper...
- Is the flea the greatest jumper in the animal world, or a skittering frog one of the hot contenders for the swimming title?
- We now love jumping and he's an amazing jumper, galloping and hacking.
- He tells us that the horse is a natural jumper.
2 (also jumper wire) A short wire used to shorten an electric circuit or close it temporarily.I read it wrong and placed the jumper wire in the E and F leads....
- Any problems with the coaxial cable, connectors, jumpers, or the antenna will show up as an abnormality on the display.
- It is software-configurable with no jumpers, and a 12V control switch is provided for flash memory programming.
3 Nautical A rope made fast to keep a yard or mast from jumping.
4A heavy chisel-ended iron bar for drilling blast holes.
5A mushroom-shaped brass part in a tap which supports the washer.