popper

Etymology 1

From Middle English poppere, equivalent to pop + -er (suffix forming agent noun).

noun

1. One who or that which pops.
2. (obsolete) A dagger.
3. A short piece of twisted string tied to the end of a whip that creates the distinctive sound when the whip is thrown or cracked.
4. (fishing) A floating lure designed to splash when the fishing line is twitched.
5. Either of a pair of interlocking discs commonly used in place of buttons to fasten clothing, a snap fastener.
6. A device that pops kernels of corn to produce popcorn.
7. A stuffed and usually breaded jalapeño.
   You mix habs into the cheese before stuffing your poppers […] 2003, James D. Campbell, Mr. Chilehead: Adventures in the Taste of Pain, page 168
8. A looner (balloon fetishist) who prefers to burst balloons.
9. (informal, countable) A capsule of amyl nitrite, a recreational drug used during sex.
   If a person inhales a popper on the brink — the very brink — of climax, then the orgasm is much more powerful. 1986, Mary Bringle, The Senator's Daughter, page 55
   Against all this was the counter-rhythm of the hip-flask and the drugs, that steady resorting at every pause for breath, to the swig of the secret drinker; or, high in his excitement, the burst of a popper and then the sucking sound of Cullen inhaling. 1986, Stephen Koch, The Bachelors' Bride, page 240
   Then, suddenly, Vince sagged — light-headed. Too many poppers. 1996, Patricia Nell Warren, Harlan's Race, page 58
   Looks like she's had too many poppers. 1999, Greg Kramer, Hogtown Bonbons, page 8
   When she heard Tuercas snap open a popper, she raised her own eyes instinctively. / His face was flushed red with the drug as he held the ampule to his nose 1999, Ted Mooney, Singing Into the Piano, page 328
   I guess he was tricking with some other hustler a couple of days later and OD'd on one too many poppers—a heart attack in his sleep. 2002, Brendan Mullen, Don Bolles, Adam Parfrey, Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs, page 195
   The annex still stood, and from inside came the grunting sounds of Eskimos and GIs in rut. Lavone was sitting near Rudy. He cracked an amyl popper. 2002, John Griesemer, No One Thinks of Greenland
   Sucio paused in his dress-down of Barney's lineage, sexuality and potty habits to sample an amyl nitrate popper, which snapped his focus clear with cardiac paddle speed. 2008, David J. Schow, Gun Work, page 91
   Too low. Must get higher! He cracked open a popper, inhaling deeply. Then another. For a brief but thankful moment, a faint high lifted through him. He clicked on the Internet icon, then his email. At that moment the marijuana, coke, and amyl nitrite collided in his bloodstream. 2010, Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall, Ghosted, page 130
10. (uncountable) Amyl nitrate.
    Ryan knelt up in bed with his knees against Kick's side. "You okay?" Ryan asked. / "Too much popper," he said. “Maybe I have jet lag. 2005, Jack Fritscher, Some Dance to Remember: A Memoir-novel of San Francisco, 1970-1982, page 340
    Maybe he has some popper—that's a gay drug, right? Nicholas Nugent should at least have some popper . . . Art, leaning into the gaggle. Nicholas Nugent, shaking his pretty head. No popper. Do you think it's possible to popper yourself gay? 2019, Lars Iyer, Nietzsche and the Burbs, page 38

Etymology 2

From Popper (“a brand name”), a brand name owned by Queensland United Foods; from 1978.

noun

1. (Australia) Synonym of juice box
   Again buy your own food - for lunch you get some tomato, some Jambon Fume (proscuitto) and a baguette along with some poppers and your have a feast. September 5, 1997, Richard Harrowell, “Advice on Skiing Europe”, in aus.snow (Usenet)