(bridge) a playing card with a value sufficiently high to insure taking a trick in a particular suit; "if my partner has a spade stopper I can bid no trump"
close or secure with or as if with a stopper; "She stoppered the wine bottle"; "The mothers stoppered their babies' mouths with pacifiers"
the unauthorized interference in a legal action by a person having no interest in it (as by helping one party with money or otherwise to continue the action) so as to obstruct justice or promote unnecessary litigation or unsettle the peace of the community; "unlike champerty, criminal maintenance does not necessarily involve personal profit"