hedge hopper:
(also as one word: ‘hedgehopper’; also called ‘crop dusting pilot’; prlural: ‘hedge hoppers‘)
‘to hedgehop’, in this context = to fly an aeroplane very close to the ground to spray pesticides or fertilizers on crops
a pilot who flies his aeroplane very close to the ground, especially the pilot who flies the aeroplane used in spraying pesticides and insecticides on crops or to drop bombs on enemies in a war,
e.g.
During World War II, a kind of small aircraft and the pilot of that aircraft were called ‘hedge hoppers’ that flew close to the ground to drop bombs or to take pictures of the enemy movements.
The hedge hoppers are those planes and pilots that sprayed pesticides on crops.
For a blog post in which we have a video from which we hear this expression being used to refer to small planes that were used in the World War Two, please click here and for an article about a ‘hedge hopper’ in the WW II, please click here.
‘Hedge hopper’ is/was also used to refer to the aeroplanes that flew very close to the ground to drop bombs or to take pictures of the enemy movements in war; for and article that shows us how this phrase is used to refer to an aeroplane that was used in the war, please click here, and in the present usage, ‘hedgehopper’ is used for several business establishments, sports and in video games, and for an article that shows us how this phrase can be used for things other than pilots and flying aircraft close to the ground, please click here.
Note: ‘Hampson’s hedge-hopper’ is a kind of butterfly found in India. For an illustrated article about this butterfly, please click here.
