Other forms: ripsnorters
Some movies and music albums are just so-so, while others are real ripsnorters — thrilling, sensational, memorable! A storm can be a ripsnorter, and so can an exciting election campaign, if such a thing is imaginable.
Ripsnorters are usually things, but occasionally a person can be a ripsnorter, especially a person of action who really shakes things up or who is outstanding in any way. The word was coined in the mid-1800s by combining rip, in the sense of "move with great speed or violence," as in "The getaway car ripped away from the scene," with snorter, a word for anything extraordinary. Adding rip to the front just made snorter all the more exciting! Humdinger has a similar meaning.