Crapper

Crapper
   The person to whom we are indebted for the flushing toilet is Thomas Crapper, the scatologists' favorite son.
   Sir Thomas Crapper (1837-1910) was born in Yorkshire, England. In the 1870s, he invented the modern toilet bowl, which consisted of a float, a metal arm, and siphonic action to empty the reservoir, enabling the bowl to be flushed without having the water run continuously. Crapper was known as the inventor of the water-waste preventer, and that became the name of this product when first used in England. An invention by the ancient Romans carried away human waste. Crapper's invention made the use of the bowl more efficient in that it shut off the running water after it had served its purpose, and he thus made a lasting contribution to our comfort.
   Crapper's name is an unlucky coincidence. The Dutch, through their word krappe ("scraps"), gave us crap, which for centuries has been used for excrement. But crap is more often used to mean nonsense: "What you're telling me is a lot of crap."

Dictionary of eponyms. . 2013.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • crapper — crap per (kr[a^]p p[ e]r), n. a toilet. [vulgar] Syn: toilet, can, commode, pot, potty, stool, throne. [WordNet 1.5 + PJC] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • crapper — [krap′ər] n. [< CRAP2] Slang TOILET (n. 4): somewhat vulgar …   English World dictionary

  • crapper — 1. n. a toilet, privy, or restroom. (Usually objectionable. See also crap.) □ Where’s the crapper around here? □ Old Jed never passes up a chance to use an indoor crapper. 2. n. a braggart. (Usually objectionable.) □ The guy is a crapper and… …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • crapper — (the crapper) n a toilet. This vulgarism appears to derive from crap and not from the name of Tho mas Crapper, a Victorian manufacturer of lavatories who is claimed to be the inven tor of the flush toilet …   Contemporary slang

  • crapper —    In American slang this would mean a person who regularly boasts about his own achievements, exaggerating them while doing so. He is something of a bullshit artist, to use another American expression, when it comes to self advertisement. In… …   A dictionary of epithets and terms of address

  • crapper — noun a) A water closet containing a flushable toilet, especially a toilet fixture identified T. Crapper , a well known Victorian era English engineer and plumbing installer, . b) A flush toilet, a commode …   Wiktionary

  • Crapper — This unusual and interesting name is of early medieval origin and is generally an occupational surname for a picker of fruit or vegetables or a reaper of corn. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century word cropp meaning swelling ,… …   Surnames reference

  • Crapper — toilet (from crap; not, as widely believed, named after the sanitary engineer Thomas Crapper) …   Dictionary of Australian slang

  • crapper — Australian Slang toilet (from crap; not, as widely believed, named after the sanitary engineer Thomas Crapper) …   English dialects glossary

  • crapper — crap|per [ˈkræpə US ər] n informal not polite the crapper a toilet …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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