colloq. or vulgar. Also w(h)apper, wopper. [f. WHOP v. + -ER1.]
1. Something uncommonly large of its kind; a very big thing, animal or person. (Cf. THUMPER 3, WHACKER 2.)
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., Whapper, a large man or woman. Ibid. (1787), Prov. Gloss., Whapper, any thing large, a thumper.
1834. Marryat, Peter Simple, xxxv. We had to pass some whoppers,… but nothing would suit Nelson but this four-decked ship.
1854. R. S. Surtees, Handley Cr., xv. We killed the fox—my eyes, such a wopper!
b. spec. A great lie, a monstrous falsehood.
1791. Nairne, Poems, 93. Some do affirm—sure ’tis a Whapper! Thou’rt silver plated upon copper.
1870. ‘A. R. Hope,’ My Schoolboy Fr., xiv. He thinks it’s … better to get a licking than to tell a whopper.
2. One who whops. (in mod. Dicts.)
