Definition

Noun: A hop-picker is a mechanical device or machine specifically designed and used for harvesting hops, the cone-shaped flowers of the hop plant used primarily in brewing beer. It automates the process of detaching the hop cones from their bines.

Examples

• The farmer invested in a new hop-picker to speed up the autumn harvest.
• Modern hop-pickers are much more efficient than the traditional method of harvesting by hand.
• The old hop-picker in the museum showed how hop harvesting technology has evolved.

Advanced Usage

• The term can sometimes be used in a historical context to refer not only to the machine but also to the seasonal laborers (often called "hoppers") who manually picked hops before mechanization, though this is now an archaic usage. The primary modern meaning is the machine.
  • In the 19th century, London families would travel to Kent to work as hop-pickers.

Variants and Related Words

• Hop-picking (n): The action or process of harvesting hops, whether by machine or by hand.
  • Hop-picking season runs from late August to September.
• Harvester (n): A general term for a machine that gathers a crop. A hop-picker is a type of harvester.
• Hop (n): The plant () or its flowers, which are harvested.

Synonyms

• Hop harvesting machine
• Hop harvester

Related Phrases

• Hop garden / hop field: The area where hop plants are cultivated.
• Hop kiln / oast house: A building for drying hops after they are picked.

Noun

1. a machine used for picking hops