Dumpers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An apparatus designed for discharging bulk materials from a container or vehicle
2. A type of truck used to transport and unload heavy materials including construction debris
3. Equipment used in various industries to facilitate the removal or disposal of waste and materials

Etymology: "Dumpers" is the plural of "dumper," a machine built to unload material. The word is simply "dump" with the agent suffix "-er," which means something that performs the action. Dumpers in this sense are the heavy vehicles, typically with a tipping bed, that carry rubble, soil or ore and empty it at a set point. The suffix has a long lineage. The "-er" ending descends from Old English "-ere," which itself came from Latin "-arius" by way of Proto-Germanic, and it has been a productive way to form agent nouns in English for centuries. Its Old French form "-ier" reached English through Middle English "-er," so the same piece that sits at the end of "baker" or "miner" is at work here. The base verb "dump" is the element that gives the word its meaning: to let something fall or be tipped out in a heap. Attaching "-er" to it turned the action into a thing that does the dumping, and the machine sense developed from that agent meaning.

Synonyms: dump trucks, containers, carriers