- hopper (n.2)
- "container with a narrow opening at the bottom," late 13c., probably an agent noun from hop (v.1) via the notion of the grain juggling in a mill hopper or the mechanism itself, which was set to operate with a shaking motion. Railroad hopper-car is from 1862.
- hopper (n.1)
- "person or animal that hops," mid-13c., agent noun from hop (v.). From c. 1200 as a surname, and perhaps existing in Old English (which had hoppestre "female dancer").
