Corker

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An outstanding, remarkable or thrilling person or thing ; a whopping lie or outrageous tall tale ; one who or that which stops bottles with a cork
2. Something exceptionally good, striking or impressive ; an enormous fib or far-fetched story told to deceive ; a stopper or person who fits corks into bottles
3. A thing of remarkable quality that astonishes people ; an outlandish, whopping untruth ; a tool or worker that seals containers with stoppers

Etymology: "Corker" is about as plain as English word-building gets: the noun "cork" with the agentive suffix "-er" attached, so it means something that corks. The cork itself has a longer history, coming into Middle English from Middle Dutch "curc", which in turn traces back through Spanish "corcho" and a Mozarabic form to Latin "cortex", meaning bark. The bark of the cork oak gave the stopper its name, which is a neat reminder that the wine bottle's plug is named after the tree it came from. The sense of "corker" as something outstanding, or a decisive remark that ends an argument, developed later and grew out of the idea of something that seals a matter shut. The suffix itself came into English through Old English "-ere" and Old French "-ier", both descended from Latin "-arius".

Synonyms: stunner, humdinger, beauty, winner, cracker

Antonyms: dud, flop, failure, lemon