napper n.2
1. a hat [? nab n.1 (3)].
| , | ![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. |
| , , | | Sl. Dict. |
| Sl. Dict. |
2. (also knapper, napper box, napper tandy, nopper) the head.
| Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | ‘De Night before Larry was Stretch’d’ Irish Songster 5: Den Larry found one of dem cheated. / A dart at his napper he med. | |
| New Dict. Cant (1795). | |
| ‘The Exciseman’ in II (1979) 95: A cask on his napper he bore, / With six gallons of brandy, or nigh. | |
| ‘Crib and the Black’ Boxiana I 480: Like light’ning ’bout Crib’s napper the blows came left and right. | |
| Spirit of Irish Wit 266: So to ease his poor napper, instead of a blister [etc]. | |
| ‘The Richmond Excursion’ Primrose Hill Collection 5: The brandy in their nappers, / Let’s loose the ladies clappers. | |
| Real Life in Ireland 19: Phil Shemingshaugh [...] fetched him a crack on his Napper Tandy. | |
| ‘Her Ladyship’s Daisey’ Flash Chaunter 33: Now his napper he scratch’d. | |
| Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | |
| Kendal Mercury 3 Apr. 6/2: Vy, blow me, if he dident turn up his blinkers (eyes) like a croaking quacker (dying duck), and said, ‘if you doesn’t give hover, I’ll get my mother to mill your napper (punch your head). | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Vocabulum. | |
| ‘The Holy Friar’ Rakish Rhymer (1917) 80: With his bald-headed napper and penis so long. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bell’s Life in Sydney 21 May 2/5: Abe got a tap on Jack’s ‘napper’. | |
| Sheffield Gloss. 155: Napper, the head. | |
| Signor Lippo 55: One day he walked straight into this kitchen clobbered in a pair of rounds, tight to his legs, a black frock isleim [...] and a long sleeve cadi on his napper. | |
| Aus. Sl. Dict. 52: Napper, the head. | |
| ‘Out for the Day & In for the Night’, in Sporting Times 9 June 1/4: On his napper he sported a ‘Trilby,’ which came / Very nearly all over his thatch. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 18 Feb. 4/7: Once I get a cobber or a clyner, it never dawns on me napper box that they could ever be anything but a terrible good fellow. | |
| Fact’ry ’Ands 233: When I saw him next he had his napper plunged in er tub iv dough. | |
| [perf. Marie Lloyd] Three Ages of Women 🎵 What is a woman’s opinion of man / When she’s first seventeen and a flapper? / She wears baby hats and her hair is in plaits / Still, she’s got big ideas in her napper. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 3 Aug. 12/4: It’s a game made for a fool, / With no sense set in his napper. | |
| London Street Games 37: Yer wos on the grahnd when I crahned yer napper. | |
| Lingo of No Man’s Land 58: NAPPER Tommy's word for head. You duck your ‘napper’ when passing a bad place in the parapet. | |
| Moleskin Joe 76: Are you off your napper, trying to make your fortune by pinchin’ from buck-navvies? | |
| (con. 1914–18) Songs and Sl. of the British Soldier 134: Knapper.—The head. | |
| Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 26 Feb. 3/5: [T]wo notorious desperadoes, one of whom thoughtfully tapped the pugilistic gent on the napper with an iron bar. | |
| ‘The Drummer Boy’ Billy Bennett’s Fifth Budget 25: I was stroking the sergeant’s bald napper. | |
| Mating Season 138: This one I would have gladly socked on the napper with a brick. | |
| ‘The Disgrace of Jim Scarfedale’ Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (1960) 127: The last time he came he had a bandage round his napper. | |
| Brendan Behan’s Island (1984) 100: Tell that peeler there to get offside if he does not want a hundredweight of lead to come crashing down on his napper. | |
| All in! All in! 15: Pity, too, the child who has the misfortune to have his head shaved [...] It is no fun to be called baldy-sconce, baldy-conscience, baldy-nopper, baldy-peelo. | |
| (con. 1940s) Second From Last in the Sack Race 37: It wouldn’t matter if a bomb fell on my napper tomorrow. | |
| Guardian Sport 25 Sept. 16: It smacks him full on the napper and of course he’s spark out. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Set in Darkness 151: Nothing wrong with the napper. | |
| Ringer [ebook] n.p.: Dungarees is the slippery slope. Next is the Doc Martens and the Number 1 to the napper. | |
| Young Team 83: A big baldy napper. |
3. a nose.
| Life in Paris 65: ‘The only way to teach them manners [...] is to pull their nose.’ The hint to be revenged on Button’s napper was not, however acted upon by the injured party. |
4. a face.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 20 July 31/1: You haven’t shaved your napper this morning, Johnny. Stand still while I strike a match on it. |
5. the mouth.
| Lone Hand (Sydney) June 174/1: Give me a man [...] / That’ll shut his napper and keep dead mum. | |
| Le Slang. |
In compounds
1. a wig.
| Navy at Home II 133: Small-nouse [...] having carefully wrapped his late napper-case up, and put it in his pocket. |
2. the head.
| Navy at Home II 294: If an unlucky four-and-twenty [i.e. a cannonball] should make free with your napper case, is it not terrific? [...] having to confront the shades of all those poor fellows who you have given slops to. |
In phrases
to achieve something easily.
| Hooligan Nights 44: He could do that little lot on his napper. |
to go mad.
| DSUE (8th edn) 778/2: go off (one’s) napper, go mad. |
to be intelligent, to ‘have a head on one’s shoulders’.
| ‘Great Aus. Slanguage’ in Baker Aus. Lang. (1945) 117: When he’s bright he’s got a napper, / But he’s ratty when he’s daft. |