Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Kipper

Kipper , noun

[Dutch kippen to hatch, snatch, seize. Compare Kipe.]

1.
(Zoology) A salmon after spawning.
2.
A salmon split open, salted, and dried or smoked; -- so called because salmon after spawning were usually so cured, not being good when fresh. [Scottish]
Collocations (1)
Kipper time , the season in which fishing for salmon is forbidden. [English & Scottish]

Kipper , transitive verb

To cure, by splitting, salting, and smoking.
Kippered salmon. — Dickens

Kipper , adjective

Amorous; also, lively; light-footed; nimble; gay; sprightly. [Provincial English] — Halliwell