🚗 A window cleaner 🧹 A machine cleaner 💾 A data eraser 🔌 A sliding contact

wiper

1 3.1

A worker who cleans machines by wiping away oil and dirt

noun
/ˈwaɪpər/

: limpiador

As a wiper, her task was to keep the surfaces of the machinery free from dirt and grime.

Examples

My father was a wiper on the tanker.

Motorpsycho! (1965)
Mrs. Viola Sievers, one of the wipers at the roundhouse, is giving a giant "H" class locomotive a bath of live steam.

Blog text (34)
I particularly liked the women working as "wipers" in the rail yards, and the work ethic of everyone.

Blog text (34)
He had been a wiper -- lowly as an ordinary seaman -- then oiler, then water-tender, watching his gauges for hours at a stretch.

Fiction book (1991)
The wiper efficiently cleaned the engine using a large rag.
He worked as a wiper at the factory, ensuring that all machines were spotless.

Compounds

windshield wiper

9 2.3

A moving blade that clears rain or snow from a car's front window

wiper blade

2 2.4

A long thin strip of rubber that wipes a car windshield

windscreen wiper

1 2.3

A moving rubber blade on a car that clears rain or snow from the front window

wiper arm

Specialized

6.8

A metal arm that moves to touch different electrical contacts in a control like a volume knob

wiper motor

3.7

A small electric machine that moves the blades that clean a car's front window

Surface Forms

wiper singular

wipers plural

Morphology

wiper = wipe (transparent) = wipe + er

A person who wipes is the prototypical agentive formation from 'wipe' + '-er' and is easily deduced by learners.

Etymology

Wiper comes from the verb wipe plus -er, the ending for a person who does something, and wipe means 'to clean by rubbing'. A wiper is therefore a person whose job is to wipe and clean machines or surfaces.