dip

English

 dip on Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• enPR: dĭp, IPA^(key): /dɪp/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪp

Etymology 1

From Middle English dippen, from Old English dyppan, from Proto-Germanic *dupjaną; see *daupijaną (“to dip”). Related to deep.

Noun

dip (countable and uncountable, plural dips)

1. A lower section of a road or geological feature.

   There is a dip in the road ahead.

   • 1941 October, “Notes and News: A Highland Runaway”, in Railway Magazine, page 469:

     They were all doomed to be disappointed, however, for the errant engine decided at Stanley junction to spend the remainder of its crowded hour of freedom on the Aberdeen line, and finally came to rest, short of breath, in the dip between Ballathie and Cargill, near the bridge over the Tay.

   • 1960 March, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 177–178:

     After a signal check at Darley Dale, on the third run, the Pacific mounted the long 1 in 100 at a steady 53-54 m.p.h. and attained a brief 60 m.p.h. in the short dip before Monsal Dale.

2. Inclination downward; direction below a horizontal line; slope; pitch.
3. The action of dipping or plunging for a moment into a liquid.
   • a. 1786, [Richard Glover], “Book the Seventh”, in , editor, The Athenaid, a Poem, , volume I, London: T Cadell, , published 1787, →OCLC, page 184, lines 293–296:

     With his precious charge / Embark'd, Sinicus gently ſteers along; / The dip of oars in uniſon awake / Without alarming ſilence; […]

4. A tank or trough where cattle or sheep are immersed in chemicals to kill parasites.
5. A dip stick.
6. A swim, usually a short swim to refresh.

   I’m going for a dip before breakfast.

7. (colloquial, dated) A pickpocket.
   • 1906, Fred L. Boalt, "The Snitcher", McClure's Magazine v.26, p.633

     The Moocher was a "dip" in a dilettante sort of way, and his particular graft was boarding street-cars with his papers and grabbing women's pocket-books.

   • 1959, Frank Clune, Murders on Maunga-tapu, page 10:

     To steal a housewife's purse might mean that her children would have to go hungry; but what of that, if the flash young “dip” could gain admiration from his mates by boasting that he had “frisked a judy's cly and lifted a skinful of bunce”?

8. A sauce for dipping.

   This onion dip is just scrumptious.

9. (geology) The angle from horizontal of a planar geologic surface, such as a fault line.
10. (archaic) A dipped candle.
    • 1837, Frederick Marryat, Snarleyyow, or the Dog Fiend:

      by the feeble light of the dip, he beheld the pale, haggard face of Smallbones

11. (dance) A move in many different styles of partner dances, often performed at the end of a dance, in which the follower leans far to the side and is supported by the leader.
12. (bodybuilding) A gymnastic or bodybuilding exercise on parallel bars in which the performer, resting on his hands, lets his arms bend and his body sink until his chin is level with the bars, and then raises himself by straightening his arms.
13. (turpentine industry) The viscid exudation that is dipped out from incisions in the trees. Virgin dip is the runnings of the first year, yellow dip the runnings of subsequent years.
14. (aeronautics) A sudden drop followed by a climb, usually to avoid obstacles or as the result of getting into an airhole.
15. (uncountable) Finely ground tobacco, consumed by placing a small amount between the lip and gum.
    • 2018 October 13, Alex Watt, “Everything I've Done That Made a Rich Old Lady with Opera Glasses Faint or a Monocle Fall Out of a Rich Guy's Eye”, in The New Yorker‎, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-18:

      Packed a lip full of beluga caviar after mistaking a tin for a can of dip and then spat the juice into an urn that I thought was a sombre spittoon.

16. (birdwatching, colloquial) The act of missing out on seeing a sought after bird.
    • 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 124:

      I'd missed them by a couple of hours. This dip did not bode well for the Hudwit.

17. (UK, dialect, uncountable, Birmingham) Fried bread.
    • 2020 May 29, Bocca della Verita (@BocaVerite), Twitter‎:

      My Dad, God bless him, rarely cooked anything, but if he ever did he would make himself an egg banjo! Fried bread? Or ‘dip’?

18. (finance, informal) A financial asset in decline, seen as an investment opportunity.

    buy the dips

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

dip (third-person singular simple present dips, present participle dipping, simple past and past participle dipped)

1. (transitive) To lower into a liquid.

   Dip your biscuit into your tea.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 21, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:

     He dipped the end of a towel in cold water and with it began to flick him on the face, his wife all the while holding her face between her hands and sobbing in a way that was heart breaking to hear.

2. (intransitive) To immerse oneself; to become plunged in a liquid; to sink.
   • 1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: J & A Arch, , published 1798, →OCLC:

     The sun's rim dips; the stars rush out.

3. (intransitive) (of a value or rate) To decrease slightly.
4. (transitive) To lower a light's beam.

   Dip your lights as you meet an oncoming car.

5. (transitive) To lower (a flag), particularly a national ensign, to a partially hoisted position in order to render or to return a salute. While lowered, the flag is said to be “at the dip.” A flag being carried on a staff may be dipped by leaning it forward at an approximate angle of 45 degrees.

   The sailor rushed to the flag hoist to dip the flag in return.

6. (transitive) To treat cattle or sheep by immersion in chemical solution.

   The farmer is going to dip the cattle today.

7. (transitive) To use a dip stick to check oil level in an engine.
8. To consume snuff by placing a pinch behind the lip or under the tongue so that the active chemical constituents of the snuff may be absorbed into the system for their narcotic effect.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

9. (transitive) To immerse for baptism.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Thomas Fuller, The Appeal of Iniured Innocence:

     new dipt Sectaries

   • c. 1722, Charles Wheatly, A rational illustration of the Book of Common Prayer:

     […] during the reigns of King James and King Charles I, there were but very few children dipped in the font.

10. (transitive) To wet, as if by immersing; to moisten.
    • 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “Comus”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, , London: Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, , →OCLC:

      A cold shuddering dew / Dips me all o'er.

11. (intransitive) To plunge or engage thoroughly in any affair.
    • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

      He was […] dipt in the rebellion of the Commons.

12. (transitive) To take out, by dipping a dipper, ladle, or other receptacle, into a fluid and removing a part; often with out.

    to dip water from a boiler; to dip out water

13. (intransitive) To perform the action of plunging a dipper, ladle. etc. into a liquid or soft substance and removing a part.
    • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: , London: R Sare, , →OCLC:

      Whoever dips too deep will find death in the pot.

14. (transitive) To engage as a pledge; to mortgage.
    • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “ The Sixth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. , London: Printed for Jacob Tonson , →OCLC:

      Live on the use and never dip thy lands.

15. (transitive) To perform (a bow or curtsey) by inclining the body.
16. (intransitive) To incline downward from the plane of the horizon.

    Strata of rock dip.

    • 2021 June 16, Dr David Turner, “The latest face of Gasworks Tunnel”, in RAIL, number 933, page 34, photo caption:

      The tunnel dips approximately 15 metres below Regents Canal and has a rising gradient at its northern end of 1-in-107.

17. (transitive, dance) To perform a dip dance move (often phrased with the leader as the subject noun and the follower as the subject noun being dipped)
18. (transitive) To briefly lower the body by bending the knees while keeping the body in an upright position, usually in rhythm, as when singing or dancing.
19. (intransitive, colloquial) To leave.

    He dipped out of the room so fast.

    • 2020 April 7, “Did Alotta”, Kai Bandz (lyrics), 1:07:

      Remember on my first lick, got lost in a house / Had to dip, bro, quick, before the dogs came out

20. (birdwatching, colloquial) To miss out on seeing a sought after bird.
    • 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 124:

      I assured him that I'd been birding long enough to know that there were no guarantees with birds and I wouldn't have held it against him if I'd dipped.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Back-formation from dippy.

Noun

dip (plural dips)

2. (informal) A foolish person.
   • 2001 January 1, Lisa Beth, “Question of Conversion”, in soc.culture.jewish.moderated‎ (Usenet):

     A commander tells the soldiers, "We're going on a 5 mile run". And some dip asks, "Do we have to bring our kitbags?" At which point, the answer is yes. It wouldn't have been if the soldier hadn't asked the question.

Derived terms

Etymology 3

Noun

dip (plural dips)

1. (computer graphics) Initialism of device-independent pixel.

Etymology 4

Shortening.

Noun

dip (plural dips)

1. (informal) A diplomat.

Related terms

• dip locker

See also

• dip hop

Anagrams

• DPI, IDP, PDI, PID, dpi

Catalan

Catalan Wikipedia has an article on:

dip

Wikipedia ^ca

Etymology

From Andalusian Arabic ديب (ḏíb), from Arabic ذِئْب (ḏiʔb).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian)

Noun

dip m (plural dips)

1. (mythology) A black vampiric hellhound associated with the town of Pratdip in the Camp de Tarragona.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English dip.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪp/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dip
• Rhymes: -ɪp

Noun

dip m (plural dippen, diminutive dipje n)

1. A dip (sauce for dipping).

   Synonym: dipsaus

Derived terms

• discodip

Noun

dip m (plural dips, diminutive dipje n)

1. (colloquial) A minor depression, a short-lived sadness.
2. A minor economic setback, no worse than a short, minor recession.

Derived terms

• dinsdagdip

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

dip

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Borrowed from English dip.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dip/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ip
• Syllabification: dip

Noun

dip m inan

1. dip (sauce for dipping)

Declension

Further reading

• dip in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Noun

dip m (plural dips)

1. dip (sauce for dipping)

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish دیب (dib), from Proto-Turkic *tǖp (“bottom; root”).

Noun

dip (definite accusative dibi, plural dipler)

1. bottom, deep
2. ground

Declension

Further reading

• Ayverdi, İlhan (2010) “dip”, in Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, a reviewed and expanded single-volume edition, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı