double-dip

English

Alternative forms

• double dip

Noun

double-dip (plural double-dips)

1. (informal) An ice cream cone with two scoops of ice cream.

   We each got double-dips with chocolate on top and strawberry on the bottom.

2. (roller coasters) A hill that levels off for a while about halfway down.
3. (economics) Ellipsis of double-dip recession (“return to recession after a short period of growth”).

   Synonym: W-shaped recession

   The UK is currently experiencing a double-dip.

4. (informal) The drawing of a government pension or benefit for one job while also working in the government at another job, or of two pensions at the same time as a result of reaching the retirement criteria twice for the same entity.

Translations

Verb

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

1. (informal) To dip a piece of food (e.g. a chip) into a communal sauce container after already having taken a bite of the food.

   I don't mind double-dipping when eating with my family, but I'd be embarrassed to do it when out with friends.

2. (informal) To be illegitimately compensated a second time for the same activity.

   He got caught double-dipping by billing the government directly as well as the primary contractor.

   • 2006, Wulf Kansteiner, In pursuit of German memory: history, television, and politics after Auschwitz:

     They worried about the possibility that some forced laborers, in particular Jewish survivors, might be double-dipping, that is, that they might be collecting compensation for their work as forced laborers while continuing to receive payments as Holocaust survivors and thus absorbing funds that should be directed toward other groups of victims […]

3. (informal) To draw a government pension or benefit for one job while also working in the government at another job, or to draw two pensions at the same time as a result of reaching the retirement criteria twice for the same entity.
4. (television, film) To re-release a movie or TV series, sometimes as a compilation or with additional features.
5. (US, finance) To use a single debt instrument to obtain interest tax expense (and therefore a lower tax base) in two or more tax jurisdictions.
6. (softball) To defeat a team twice in the finals.

   SPC Ladies double-dipped the Sudbury Storm in the NSA Canadian World Series.

7. (higher education) To enroll in a single class which will fulfill two different requirements of a course of study.
8. (video games) To buy the same game twice, especially on different platforms.

   I usually don't double-dip, but this port convinced me to with its additional content and improved graphics.

See also

• butter one's bread on both sides