flip

English Online Dictionary. What means flip‎? What does flip mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flɪp/
• Rhymes: -ɪp

Etymology 1

Alteration of earlier fillip, from Middle English filippen (“to make a signal or sound with thumb and right forefinger, snap the fingers”), an attenuated variation of flappen (“to flap, clap, slap, strike”). Cognate with Dutch flappen (“to flap”), German flappen (“to flap”).

Noun

flip (countable and uncountable, plural flips)

1. A maneuver which rotates an object end over end.

2. A complete change of direction, decision, movement etc.
3. (archaic) A fillip or light blow.
4. (dated) A whit or jot; the tiniest amount.

5. (US, slang) A slingshot.
6. A hairstyle popular among boys in the 1960s–70s and 2000s–10s, in which the hair goes halfway down the ears, at which point it sticks out

   Justin Bieber and Zac Efron are among the celebrities who wore a flip.

7. (informal) The purchase of an asset (usually a house) which is then improved and sold quickly for profit.
8. (firearms, uncountable) The tendency of a gun's barrel to jerk about at the moment of firing.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

flip (third-person singular simple present flips, present participle flipping, simple past and past participle flipped)

1. (transitive) To throw so as to turn over.

   Synonyms: turn, turn over
2. (transitive) To put into a quick revolving motion through a snap of the thumb and index finger.

   Synonym: toss

3. (transitive, US politics) To win a state (or county) won by another party in the preceding elections.

4. (intransitive, US) To turn state's evidence; to agree to testify against one's co-conspirators in exchange for concessions from prosecutors.

5. (transitive, US) To induce someone to turn state's evidence; to get someone to agree to testify against their co-conspirators in exchange for concessions.

6. (intransitive, slang) To go berserk or crazy; to get extremely angry.

7. (intransitive, slang) To go berserk or crazy; to be extremely thrilled or enthusiastic.
   • 1964, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure

     I got a silver ring with a "B" on it for Beatles. I really flip for those excellent guys.

8. (transitive, finance, slang) To purchase and resell assets (often real estate or artworks) for immediate short-term profit.
9. (transitive, finance, slang) To refinance (a loan), accruing additional fees.
10. (transitive, computing) To invert a bit (binary digit), changing it from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0.
11. (transitive, informal) To hand over or pass along.
12. (intransitive, informal) To switch to another task, etc.
13. (intransitive) To flap.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Apparently a euphemism for fuck.

Interjection

flip

1. (UK, euphemistic, colloquial) Used to express annoyance, especially when the speaker has made an error.

Synonyms

• damn

Related terms

• flipping

Etymology 3

Clipping of flippant.

Adjective

flip (comparative flipper, superlative flippest)

1. (British, informal) Having the quality of playfulness, or lacking seriousness of purpose.

   I hate to be flip, but perhaps we could steal a Christmas tree.

2. Sarcastic.
3. (informal) Disrespectful, flippant.

   Don't get flip with me or I'll knock you into next Tuesday!

Synonyms

• (disrespectful): see Thesaurus:cheeky

Etymology 4

Compare English dialect flip (“nimble, flippant, also, a slight blow”).

Noun

flip (uncountable)

1. A mixture of beer, spirit, etc., stirred and heated by a hot iron (a "flip dog").
   • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 21:

     I frequently took of large potations, though not of champagne certainly, but port, strong ales, and punch, and when our funds were low as sometimes happened, hot flip […] .

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

flip

1. inflection of flippen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

French

Etymology

First attested 1716, borrowed from English flip.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flip/

Noun

flip m (plural flips)

1. a type of alcoholic punch from Normandy, composed of cider and calvados
2. (gymnastics) backflip

Further reading

• “flip”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.