Also 7 whopper. [f. WHOOP v. + -ER1.] A person or animal that whoops. a. gen. (See also HOOPER2 1.)
1826. Southey, Lett. to N. White, 11 Feb. Two of my whoopers still favour us with a little kennel-music.
1908. Academy, 27 June, 926/2. The whoopers and the screamers and the female stump-orators and banner-bearers and processionists are no more the women of England than if they were the three tailors of Tooley Street.
b. spec. The wild or whistling swan, Cygnus musicus (ferus): also whooper swan. (See also HOOPER2 2.)
1660. May, Accompl. Cook (1665), 217. Turkey, Swan, Goose, Bustard, Crane, Whopper, wilde Geese, Brand-Geese,… and many more.
1880. Baring-Gould, Mehalah, i. Occasionally the whooper swan sounds his loud trumpet.
1889. Blackw. Mag., Dec., 828. The whooper is the largest of our wild swans.
1902. H. W. Tompkins, Highways Hertfordsh., v. 104. A pair of whooper swans frequented Water End near Great Gaddesden.
