dipper
n 1: a ladle that has a cup with a long handle
2: a cluster of seven stars in Ursa Minor; at the end of the
dipper's handle is Polaris [syn: {Little Dipper}, {Dipper}]
3: a group of seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa Major
[syn: {Big Dipper}, {Dipper}, {Plough}, {Charles's Wain},
{Wain}, {Wagon}]
4: small North American diving duck; males have bushy head
plumage [syn: {bufflehead}, {butterball}, {dipper},
{Bucephela albeola}]
5: small stocky diving bird without webbed feet; frequents fast-
flowing streams and feeds along the bottom [syn: {water
ouzel}, {dipper}]
Dipper \Dip"per\, n.
1. One who, or that which, dips; especially, a vessel used to
dip water or other liquid; a ladle.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Zool.)
(a) A small grebe; the dabchick.
(b) The buffel duck.
(c) The water ouzel ({Cinolus aquaticus}) of Europe.
(d) The American dipper or ouzel ({Cinclus Mexicanus}).
[1913 Webster]
{The Dipper} (Astron.), the seven principal stars in the
constellation of the Great Bear; popularly so called from
their arrangement in the form of a dipper; -- called also
{Charles's Wain}. See {Ursa Major}, under {Ursa}.
[1913 Webster]