Origin of The Nautical Term "clipper"
The term "clipper" most likely derives from the verb "clip", which in former times meant, among other things, to run or fly swiftly. Dryden, the English poet, used the word "clip" to describe the swift flight of a falcon in the 17th century when he said "And, with her eagerness the quarry missed, Straight flies at check, and clips it down the wind." The ships appeared to clip along the ocean water. The term "clip" became synonymous with "speed" and was also applied to fast horses and sailing ships. "To clip it," and "going at a good clip," are familiar expressions to this day.
While the first application of the term "clipper" in a nautical sense is by no means certain, it seems to have had an American origin when applied to the Baltimore clippers of the late 18th century. When these vessels of a new model were built, which were intended to "clip" over the waves rather than plough through them, the improved type of craft became known as "clippers" because of their speed.
In England the nautical term "clipper" appeared a little later. The Oxford English Dictionary says its earliest quotation for "clipper" is from 1830. This does not mean, however, that little British opium clippers from prior to 1830 were not called "opium clippers" just as they are today. Cutler reports the first newspaper appearance was in 1835, and by then the term was apparently familiar. An undated painting of the British Water Witch built in 1831 is labeled OPIUM CLIPPER "WATER WITCH" so the term had at least passed into common usage during the time that this ship sailed.
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