Dictionary

shaper en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• shāʹpər
• /ˈʃeɪpə(ɹ)/

Etymology

From Middle English schapere, alteration (perhaps due to Old Norse skaperi, skapari) of Old English sċyppend, sċieppend (“shaper; maker; creator”), equivalent to shape + -er. Cognate with Dutch schepper, German Schöpfer, Danish skaber, Swedish skapare, Icelandic skapari.

Meanings

1. (agent) Any agent that shapes (something), whether literally or figuratively.
   • one's birth is a shaper of one's fortunes
   • Considered merely as works of art, these products of the Greek imagination [i.e., Greek tragedies] satisfy our highest conception of form. […] The secret of those old shapers died with them; their wand is broken, their book sunk deeper than ever plummet sounded. 1876, James Russell Lowell, “Dante”, in Among My Books. Second Series., Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 98:
2. (agent) Any agent that shapes (something), whether literally or figuratively. ▸ A person who designs and builds surfboards.
3. (agent) Any agent that shapes (something), whether literally or figuratively. ▸ A machine tool in which a single-point cutting tool mounted on a reciprocating ram is traversed across the workpiece linearly. Shapers can generate various shapes, but were most especially employed in generating flat surfaces and keyways. The shaper is nowadays obsolescent, most of its applications being served by milling machines.

Forms

Coordinates

others at machine tool § Hyponyms · slotter

Deriveds

waveshaper · body shaper · partial shaper

Relateds

shaping · glasser

Translations (11)

cs obrážečka (A machine tool) · sv kipphyvel (A machine tool) · pl strugarka (A machine tool) · de Stoßmaschine (A machine tool) · nl schaafbank (A machine tool) · fr étau-limeur (A machine tool) · it limatrice (A machine tool) · sv bordsfräs (A machine tool) · ca llimadora (A machine tool) · es limadora (A machine tool) · ga múnlóir (A machine tool)