Other forms: reapers
A reaper is somebody or something that cuts and gathers grain. The reapers in the field, a mechanical reaper, the grim reaper.
The mechanical reaper of the 1830s did more to change farming than almost any other machine, because harvest was the labour bottleneck of the whole year. Death is called the grim reaper because he gathers everybody in his season. Note reap beneath it.
1nounreaperSomebody or something that cuts and gathers grain.
“In the old painting, reapers with long curved blades cut the golden wheat by hand.”
reaper is a harvester.
Old English ripere is reap plus -er, from ripan, to reap.
Old English
rīpere — reaper
Middle English
reper
English, today
reaper
From Middle English reper, repare, repere, riper (the last, attested only in surnames Ryper, Riper, etc.), from Old English rīpere (“reaper”), equivalent to reap + -er.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA