pip
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English pippe, from Middle Dutch pip, from post-classical Latin pipita, from Latin pītuīta (“mucus, phlegm, head cold”). Doublet of pituita.
Noun
pip (plural pips)
- Any of various respiratory diseases in birds, especially infectious coryza. [from the 15th c.]
- (humorous, dated) Of humans, a disease, malaise or depression.
- 1912, D. H. Lawrence, letter to Edward Garnett
- I've got the pip horribly at present.
- 1915, C.J. Dennis, The Songs of the Sentimental Bloke, published 1916, page 13:
- Fer, as the poit sez, me 'eart 'as got / The pip wiv yearnin' fer - I dunno wot.
- 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter IV:
- With this deal Uncle Tom's got on with Homer Cream, it would be fatal to risk giving [Mrs Cream] the pip in any way.
- 1980 August 16, “Mousie Mousie Wildflower (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 5, page 22:
- So sorry that you caught the pip
On our most recent northward trip
But you'll be better soon I'm hopin'
Cause with the mornings I'm not copin'
Some nerve. Tell those nasty viruses to Bug off!
- 2021 September 2, Paul Simms, “The Prisoner” (1:11 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 3, episode 1, spoken by Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry):
- “I frankly couldn't give a cat's knuckle about Gizmo. I mean, he's just kind of this fluttering lickspittle that is always bouncing about, always behind Nandor. But Nandor likes him.” “Oh, shut up, Colin Robinson. You're giving me the pip.”
- 1912, D. H. Lawrence, letter to Edward Garnett
Derived terms
Translations
respiratory disease in birds
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Etymology 2
Apparently representing a shortened form of pippin, from Middle English pipin, from Old French pepin (“a seed”) (French pépin).
Noun
pip (plural pips)
- (obsolete) A pippin, seed of any kind.
- (UK) A seed inside certain fleshy fruits (compare stone/pit), such as a peach, orange, or apple.
- 1995, John Pairman Brown, Israel and Hellas (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft; 231), volume 1, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 134:
- On most of the shores of the ancient Mediterranean, before any historical record, the cultivated grape vine, Vitis vinifera Linn., was grown. Its relationship to the wild vine of Eurasia, Vitis silvestris Gmel., is uncertain. Its pips can mostly be distinguished from those of the wild vine, and have been found in Egypt and Syrian Hama from the fourth millennium BC, at Lachish and Jericho in the early Bronze, at Troy II during the Bronze, in the Peloponnesus from Early Helladic, in Crete from the Early Minoan.
- Apple pips are edible, but don't have a pleasant taste.
- (UK) A seed inside certain fleshy fruits (compare stone/pit), such as a peach, orange, or apple.
- (US, colloquial) Something or someone excellent, of high quality.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 612:
- She sure is a pip, that one. You need company?
- (British, dated, World War I, signalese) P in RAF phonetic alphabet.
Derived terms
Translations
seed
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Verb
pip (third-person singular simple present pips, present participle pipping, simple past and past participle pipped)
- (transitive) To remove the pips from.
- Peel and pip the grapes.
Etymology 3
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Origin uncertain; perhaps related to Etymology 2, above.
Noun
pip (plural pips)
- One of the spots or symbols on a playing card, domino, die, etc.
- (military, public service) One of the stylised version of the Bath star worn on the shoulder of a uniform to denote rank, e.g. of a soldier or a fireman.
- A spot; a speck.
- A spot of light or an inverted V indicative of a return of radar waves reflected from an object; a blip.
- A piece of rhizome with a dormant shoot of the lily of the valley plant, used for propagation
Synonyms
- (symbol on playing card etc): spot
Translations
dot, symbol on domino, die, etc.
Verb
pip (third-person singular simple present pips, present participle pipping, simple past and past participle pipped)
- (transitive) To get the better of; to defeat by a narrow margin.
- Synonym: pip to the post
- He led throughout the race but was pipped at the post.
- (transitive) To hit with a gunshot.
- The hunter managed to pip three ducks from his blind.
Related terms
Etymology 4
Verb
pip (third-person singular simple present pips, present participle pipping, simple past and past participle pipped)
- (intransitive) To peep, to chirp.
- (ornithology) To make the initial hole during the process of hatching from an egg.
Derived terms
Etymology 5
Noun
pip (plural pips)
- One of a series of very short, electronically produced tones, used, for example, to count down the final few seconds before a given time or to indicate that a caller using a payphone needs to make further payment to continue the call.
- 1982, John Banville, The Newton Letter:
- I could clearly hear the frequent cataclysms of the upstairs lavatory, and my day began with the pips for the morning news in Charlotte Lawless's kitchen.
Synonyms
- (electronic sound, counting down seconds): stroke
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 6
Abbreviation of percentage in point.
Noun
pip (plural pips)
- (finance, currency trading) The smallest price increment between two currencies in foreign exchange (forex) trading.
- 2015, Abe Cofnas, “Trading Styles and Strategies”, in The Forex Trading Course: A Self-study Guide to Becoming a Successful Currency Trader, 2nd edition, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, part II (Timing the Trade with Technical Analysis), page 157:
- The set-and-forget trader is playing fundamental direction and is seeking very large moves of 150 to 300 pips. This trader doesn't want to sit and watch the screen but play the longer moves and forces behind forex.
See also
terms containing "pip", probably of unrelated or unknown etymology
Anagrams
Albanian
Etymology 1
A descriptive term, similar to German piepen and Latin pipīre.
Verb
Etymology 2
From Romance *pīpa, also present in Old French pipe, Italian pipa etc.
Noun
Danish
Etymology
From Old Norse *pípa, from Proto-Germanic *pīpaną.
Pronunciation
Noun
pip n (singular definite pippet, plural indefinite pip)
Inflection
Noun
pip n
- (dated) nonsense, gibberish, madness
- 2015, William Heinesen, Tårnet ved verdens ende: En poetisk mosaik-roman om den yngste ungdom, Gyldendal A/S, →ISBN:
- Sådan noget pip!
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 1975, Manfred Spliedt, Sådan en dum knægt:
- Sikke noget pip.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 1975, Aksel Sandemose, Minner fra andre dager:
- Jeg var forarget over saadan noget Pip ...
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch pippe, pip, pips (“pip”, also “cold, flu”), ultimately from post-classical Latin pip(p)ita, from Latin pītuīta (“slime, head cold”).
The word was borrowed into West Germanic before the High German consonant shift as *pippit, whence Old High German pfipfiz and (Central German) pipz, *pippiz (modern German Pips, obsolete Pfipfs). In Dutch and Low German we should expect a form such as *pippet, which is not attested, however. One possibility is that these dialects borrowed the Central German form and the final s-sound was later reanalysed as the genitive suffix. Middle Dutch also had pipeye, from Old French pipie.
Pronunciation
Noun
pip m (uncountable)
- Pip (any of various respiratory diseases in birds, especially infectious coryza)
- (humorous or colloquial) of humans, a disease (particularly the common cold or the flu), malaise or depression
Derived terms
- pips
- de pip krijgen
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology 1
Interjection
pip
Noun
pip n (definite singular pipet, indefinite plural pip, definite plural pipa)
Etymology 2
Specialized use of Etymology 1.
Noun
pip m (definite singular pipen, indefinite plural pipar, definite plural pipane)
- used in the expression ta pipen frå.
Etymology 3
Noun
pip m (definite singular pipen, indefinite plural pipar, definite plural pipane)
References
- “pip” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Swedish
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Etymology
From Old Norse *pípa, from Proto-Germanic *pīpaną.
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -iːp
Interjection
pip
Noun
pip n
- a beep
- Datorn gav ifrån sig ett pip
- The computer emitted a beep
- a squeak, a peep
- Pip hördes från mössen och fågelungarna
- Squeaks were heard from the mice and peeps from the baby birds
- Vi har inte hört ett pip från dom
- We haven't heard a peep from them [idiomatic]
Declension
nominative | genitive | ||
---|---|---|---|
singular | indefinite | pip | pips |
definite | pipet | pipets | |
plural | indefinite | pip | pips |
definite | pipen | pipens |
Related terms
Noun
pip c
- a spout, a lip (on a vessel)
- a stem (narrow bottom part of a funnel)
- trattens pip
- the stem of the funnel
Declension
nominative | genitive | ||
---|---|---|---|
singular | indefinite | pip | pips |
definite | pipen | pipens | |
plural | indefinite | pipar | pipars |
definite | piparna | piparnas |
Derived terms
- pipskägg (“pointed goatee; Van Dyke beard”)
See also
- snip (“lip”)
Verb
pip
- imperative of pipa
References
Volapük
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
pip (nominative plural pips)
- pipe (for smoking)
Declension
1 status as a case is disputed
2 in later, non-classical Volapük only
Related terms
- smokön
- tabak
Welsh
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Noun
pip m or f (plural pips)
- (South Wales) peep, glance
- Synonyms: cip, cipolwg, cewc, sbec
Derived terms
- (South Wales) twlu bip (“take a look”)
Etymology 2
Borrowed from English pip, from Middle Dutch pip, from post-classical Latin pipita, from Latin pītuīta (“mucus, phlegm, head cold”).
Noun
pip m (uncountable)
Mutation
Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.
Further reading
- R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “pip”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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