bouncer - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From bounce +‎ -er.

bouncer (plural bouncers)

  1. (informal) A member of security personnel employed by bars, nightclubs, etc. to decide who can enter, maintain order, and deal with patrons who cause trouble.
    Synonyms: doorman, chucker-out
    • 2010, Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen and Unwin, page 117:
      At 199 centimetres and a hundred kilos going up, he was scary big and he found work as a bouncer and enforcer[.]
  2. (cricket) A short-pitched ball that bounces up towards, or above the height of the batsman’s head.
    Synonym: bumper
    • 1998, Kamila Shamsie, In the City by the Sea, Bloomsbury (2004), page 165:
      ‘You try to hit the bouncer that you should duck under. Your bat misses it completely. The ball strikes your temple, whack!’
  3. (Internet) An account or server (as with IRC and FTP) that invisibly redirects requests to another, used for anonymity or vanity.
    Synonym: BNC
  4. (dated) One who bounces; a large, heavy person who makes much noise in moving.
  5. (slang, archaic) A boaster; a bully.
  6. Something big; a good stout example of the kind.
    Synonym: whopper
    • 1842, Thomas De Quincey, “Modern Greece”, in Blackwood's Magazine:
      The stone must be a bouncer.
  7. (slang, archaic) A bold lie.
    Synonym: whopper
    • 1877, W. S. Gilbert, “Engaged”, in Original Plays, Second Series, London: Chatto & Windus, published 1899, page 83:
      "… when he wants to accomplish his purpose, he does not hesitate to invent—I am not quite sure of the word, but I think it is “bouncers.”
  8. (slang, archaic) A liar.
    • 1833, [Frederick Marryat], chapter XII, in Peter Simple. […], volume II, London: Saunders and Otley, […], published 1834, →OCLC, page 190:
      "Why, I'll tell you, Mr. Simple; he's a good tempered, kind fellow enough, but—" / "But what?" / "Such a bouncer!!" / "How do you mean? He's not a very stout man." / "Bless you, Mr. Simple, why don't you understand English. I mean that he's the greatest liar that ever walked a deck. […]"
  9. A bouncy castle.
  10. A kind of seat mounted in a framework in which a baby can bounce up and down.

member of security personnel