reaper

See also: Reaper

English

From Middle English reper, repare, repere, *riper (the last, attested only in surnames Ryper, Riper, etc.), from Old English rīpere (“reaper”), equivalent to reap +‎ -er.

reaper (plural reapers)

One who reaps; a person employed to harvest crops from the fields by reaping.
- 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
  Even as we looked some rumour seemed to have spread, for we saw the reapers hurrying from the fields.
A machine used to harvest crops.
(often capitalized) Ellipsis of Grim Reaper.
- 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 31:
  Thereafter when their cups were brimmed anew with foaming wine the Red Foliot spake among them and said, “O ye lords of Witchland, will you that I speak a dirge in honour of Gorice the King that the dark reaper hath this day gathered?”
- 1976, Buck Dharma, “Don't Fear the Reaper”, performed by Blue Öyster Cult:
  Don't fear the Reaper / We'll be able to fly
- 1999, Karl S. Guthke, The Gender of Death: A Cultural History in Art and Literature, page 7:
  Why is the Grim Reaper a man? True, the noun ending would theoretically allow us to visualize the reaper as a woman as well, but we don't.
- 2014, “Graveyard Shift”, performed by The Acacia Strain:
  She told me she wanted to meet the reaper
  I had only done her a favor
  She didn't deserve to die
  But I deserved to kill her
A recluse spider (Loxosceles and Sicarius spp.).

one who reaps

machine used for harvesting — see harvester

the Grim Reaper — see Grim Reaper

recluse spider — see recluse spider

reaper (plural reapers)

(India, obsolete) Each of the small laths laid across the rafters of a sloping roof to bear the tiles.