Dictionary

whopper en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈʍɔpəɾ/ (Scotland)
• [ˈwɔ̟pə] ~ [ˈwɞ̠pə] (New-Zealand)
• /ˈwɔpəɾ/ (Scotland) wine–whine merger
• /ˈwɑpɚ/ (General-American)
• /ˈwɒpə/ (New-Zealand)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈwɒpə/ (Northern-England, Received-Pronunciation, Wales)
• /ˈwɔpə/ (Australia, British, Southern, Standard)
• /ˈwɒpɚ/ (Canada)

Etymology

From whop + -er.

Meanings

1. (informal) Something remarkably large.
   • I’ve just run down from Ulster County to look at the town, bein’ that the hayin’s over with. Gosh! but it’s a whopper. I thought Poughkeepsie was some punkins; but this here town is five times as big. 1910, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Poet and the Peasant”, in Strictly Business: More Stories of the Four Million, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC:
   • There's a storm blowing up, Sylvester—a 'whopper', speaking in the vernacular of the peasantry. 1939, Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, The Wizard of Oz:
   • I’d gone out pike fishing, bless you, never thinking of a trout, and when I saw that whopper on the end of my line, blest if it didn’t quite take me aback. Well, you see, he weighed twenty-six pound. 1889, Jerome K. Jerome, chapter 17, in Three Men in a Boat […] :
2. (informal) An outrageous or blatant lie.
   • Isuzu Inc. hit pay dirt in the late '80s with its series of “Joe Isuzu” spots, featuring an oily, Satanic-looking salesman who told whoppers about Isuzu's genuine llama-skin upholstery and ability to run on tapwater. 1997 [1990], David Foster Wallace, “E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction”, in A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN:
   • When he got done telling it there was one of them uncomfortable silences that comes, you know, when a person has been telling a whopper and you feel sorry for him and wish you could think of some way to change the subject and let him down easy, […] 1894, Mark Twain, chapter XII, in Tom Sawyer Abroad:
   • Coming out with a whopper now. Rhapsodies about damn all. Believes his own lies. Does really. Wonderful liar. But want a good memory. 1922 February 2, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:

Forms

Relateds

whopperjawed · belly whopper

Translations (51)

nl knoert (something remarkably large) · tr palavra (outrageous lie) · cs nehorázná lež (outrageous lie) · cmn 龐然大物 /庞然大物 (something remarkably large) · es trola (outrageous lie) · es chorro (something remarkably large) · nl kanjer (something remarkably large) · nl grote leugen (outrageous lie) · es chingo (something remarkably large) · lv milzenis (something remarkably large) · nl joekel (something remarkably large) · pt mentirona (outrageous lie) · tr kuyruklu yalan (outrageous lie) · pl kolos (something remarkably large) · es montón (something remarkably large) · pl kobyła (something remarkably large) · fr énormité (outrageous lie) · ro minciună gogonată (outrageous lie) · sk kolos (something remarkably large) · de enorme Lüge (outrageous lie) · es milonga (outrageous lie) · de Oschi (something remarkably large) · fi jätti (something remarkably large) · es mogollón (something remarkably large) · ru грома́дина (something remarkably large) · es gazapo (outrageous lie) · es cuentazo (outrageous lie) · de Kaventsmann (something remarkably large) · de Mordsding (something remarkably large) · bg нещо огромно (something remarkably large) · sk neslýchaná lož (outrageous lie) · pt grandalhão (something remarkably large) · bg опашата лъжа (outrageous lie) · nl baas (something remarkably large) · km ធំសំបើម (something remarkably large) · af knewel (something remarkably large) · pl wierutne kłamstwo (outrageous lie) · pt colosso (something remarkably large) · es coplas (outrageous lie) · lv milzene (something remarkably large) · es enormidad (something remarkably large) · ru гну́сная ложь (outrageous lie) · tr okkalı (something remarkably large) · cmn 彌天大謊 /弥天大谎 (outrageous lie) · fi emävale (outrageous lie) · de Mordsapparat (something remarkably large) · de Lügengeschichte (outrageous lie) · cs macek (something remarkably large) · ko 새빨간 거짓말 (outrageous lie) · de Lüge (outrageous lie) · ja 真っ赤な嘘 (outrageous lie)