Other forms: flippers
A flipper is the flat, broad limb a sea animal swims with — a seal's, a turtle's, a whale's. It is the word for a limb that has become a paddle, and it is used for the animal's own body part rather than for equipment.
Except that it is also used for equipment: flippers are the rubber fins a swimmer straps on, though divers usually say fins and reserve flippers for the shop. Both are correct and the split is roughly enthusiast versus everyone else. There is a third, mechanical sense familiar to anyone who has played pinball: the flippers are the two levers at the bottom that flick the ball back up.
1nounflipperThe flat wide limb a sea animal swims with.
“The seal pushed itself along on its flippers.”
synonyms: fin
2nounrubberA flat rubber shoe worn for swimming.
“You will go twice as fast with flippers on.”
3nounleversOne of the levers that flicks the ball in a pinball machine.
“The left flipper had stopped working.”
flipper is a limb for swimming.
From flip + er. Compare stq Flappert (“flipper, wing”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Insects & Sea Life, Swimming & Diving