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nipper ((2))
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
n.
the person responsible for getting equipment and material from the station to the work-place, that is, the spot where the mining operation is being carried out.
Clearly an extension of the British nipper "helper" (usually a youngster, from which is derived the slang sense "boy, lad").
Quotations
1963
Only difference was when the nipper came down with the second bucketful of starters, that damned spot had grown up two inches.
1964
Another occupational term that bears the stamp of British origin is "nipper," a nipper being originally a boy brought into the coal mines, usually as his father's helper. To-day the nipper is an expediter of materials used in the mine.