to plunge (something, as a cloth or sponge) temporarily into a liquid, so as to moisten it, dye it, or cause it to take up some of the liquid: He dipped the brush into the paint bucket.
2.
to raise or take up by a bailing, scooping, or ladling action: to dip water out of a boat; to dip ice cream from a container.
3.
to lower and raise: to dip a flag in salutation.
4.
to immerse (a sheep, hog, etc.) in a solution to destroy germs, parasites, or the like.
5.
to make (a candle) by repeatedly plunging a wick into melted tallow or wax.
to plunge into water or other liquid and emerge quickly: The boat dipped into the waves.
10.
to put the hand, a dipper, etc., down into a liquid or a container, especially in order to remove something (often followed by in or into): He dipped into the jar for an olive.
11.
to withdraw something, especially in small amounts (usually followed by in or into): to dip into savings.
12.
to sink or drop down: The sun dipped below the horizon.
13.
to incline or slope downward: At that point the road dips into a valley.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a creamy mixture of savory foods for scooping with potato chips, crackers, and the like, often served as an hors d'oeuvre, especially with cocktails.
24.
a momentary lowering; a sinking down.
25.
a moderate or temporary decrease: a dip in stock-market prices.
26.
a downward extension, inclination, slope, or course.
27.
the amount of such extension.
28.
a hollow or depression in the land.
29.
a brief swim: She took a dip in the ocean and then sat on the beach for an hour.
30.
Geology,Mining. the downward inclination of a vein or stratum with reference to the horizontal.
31.
the angular amount by which the horizon lies below the level of the eye.
32.
Also called angle of dip, inclination, magnetic dip, magnetic inclination.the angle that a freely rotating magnetic needle makes with the plane of the horizon.
33.
a short, downward plunge, as of an airplane.
34.
a candle made by repeatedly dipping a wick into melted tallow or wax.
35.
Gymnastics. an exercise on the parallel bars in which the elbows are bent until the chin is on a level with the bars, and then the body is elevated by straightening the arms.
at the dip, Nautical. not fully raised; halfway up the halyard: an answering pennant flown at the dip. Compare close(def. 75b).
Origin: before 1000; Middle English dippen (v.), Old English dyppan; akin to German taufen to baptize, and to deep
Related forms
dip·pa·ble, adjective, noun
un·dipped, adjective
Synonyms 1. duck. Dip,immerse,plunge refer to putting something into liquid. To dip is to put down into a liquid quickly or partially and lift out again: to dip a finger into water to test the temperature. Immerse denotes a lowering into a liquid until covered by it: to immerse meat in salt water. Plunge adds a suggestion of force or suddenness to the action of dipping: to plunge a chicken into boiling water before stripping off the feathers. 2. scoop. 9. dive.
O.E. dyppan "immerse, baptize by immersion," from P.Gmc. *dupjanan, related to diepan "immerse, dip." Sense of "downward slope" is 1708. Meaning "sweet sauce for pudding, etc." first recorded 1825. Dipper, the popular U.S. name for the asterism known in Britain as The Plough or Charles' Wain, is attested
n. a drunkard. (From dipsomaniac.) : Buy the dip a drink. That'll shut him up for a while.
n. and dipper. a pickpocket. (Underworld.) : The dip tried a snatch, but the dupe turned around at the wrong time. , The cops picked up three dippers, working as a group, at the fairgrounds.
n. a pinch or helping of snuff. : He took a dip just before he picked up the bat.
n. a wad of chewing tobacco. : You could see he had a big dip in his cheek.
n. an oaf; a jerk. (Probably from dipshit.) : Why are you acting like such a dip?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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