dip

plural dips

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

   There is a dip in the road ahead.

   2 more examples

   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.

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

   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.

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

2. countableuncountableInclination downward; direction below a horizontal line; slope; pitch.
3. countableuncountableThe action of dipping or plunging for a moment into a liquid.

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

   a. 1786, [Richard Glover], “Book the Seventh”, in [Mrs. Halsey], editor, The Athenaid, a Poem, […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], published 1787, →OCLC, page 184, lines 293–296

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

   I’m going for a dip before breakfast.

7. countabledatedslanguncountableA pickpocket.

   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.

   1906, Fred L. Boalt, "The Snitcher", McClure's Magazine v.26, p.633

   2 more examples

   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”?

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

   Skeet is one of the modern young breed of dip, no longer interested in the pocket watches of the old and inattentive, finding more challenge in lifting a watch right off a wrist in broad daylight […].

   2025, Thomas Pynchon, Shadow Ticket, Jonathan Cape, page 6

8. countableuncountableA sauce for dipping.

   This onion dip is just scrumptious.

9. countableuncountablegeographyThe angle from horizontal of a planar geologic surface, such as a fault line.
10. archaiccountableuncountableA dipped candle.

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

    1837, Frederick Marryat, Snarleyyow, or the Dog Fiend

    1 more example

    The miser’s niece was there all right, seated on a little stool with straw in her hair and reading a monkish scroll by the light of a tallow dip.

    1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 66

11. countableuncountabledanceA 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. countableuncountablebodybuildingA 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. countableuncountableturpentine industryThe 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. countableuncountableaeronauticsA sudden drop followed by a climb, usually to avoid obstacles or as the result of getting into an airhole.
15. uncountableFinely ground tobacco, consumed by placing a small amount between the lip and gum.

    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.

    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 18 Dec 2022

    Synonyms: chewing tobacco, snuff

16. colloquialcountableuncountablebiologyThe act of missing out on seeing a sought after bird.

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

    2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 124

17. UKdialectaluncountableBirminghamFried bread.

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

    2020 May 29, Bocca della Verita (@BocaVerite), Twitter

18. countableinformaluncountablebusinessA financial asset in decline, seen as an investment opportunity.

    buy the dips

present singular third person dips · participle present dipping · participle past dipped · past dipped

1. transitiveTo lower into a liquid.

   Dip your biscuit into your tea.

   1 more example

   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.

   1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC

2. intransitiveTo immerse oneself; to become plunged in a liquid; to sink.

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

   1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC

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

   Dip your lights as you meet an oncoming car.

   1 more example

   The engine's three headlights lit the way clearly, and when a train approached in the other direction, Driver Wegg dipped his lights; the other driver politely replying by doing the same.

   1953 August, J. G. Click, “The Lötschberg Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 516

5. transitiveTo 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. transitiveTo treat cattle or sheep by immersion in chemical solution.

   The farmer is going to dip the cattle today.

7. transitiveTo 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 in order to absorb the desired chemical constituents.

   Near-synonym: pack a lip

   1 more example

   He started dipping years ago.

   Synonyms: pack a lip

9. transitiveTo immerse for baptism.

   new dipt Sectaries

   (Can we date this quote?), Thomas Fuller, The Appeal of Iniured Innocence

   1 more example

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

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

10. transitiveTo wet, as if by immersing; to moisten.

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

    1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “Comus”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC

11. intransitiveTo plunge or engage thoroughly in any affair.

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

    1700, [John] Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

12. transitiveTo 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. intransitiveTo perform the action of plunging a dipper, ladle. etc. into a liquid or soft substance and removing a part.

    Whoever dips too deep will find death in the pot.

    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[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC

14. transitiveTo engage as a pledge; to mortgage.

    Live on the use and never dip thy lands.

    1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Sixth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC

    1 more example

    Aura. Have you a clear title to the thing you would sell? That heart of your's, I warrant, has been mortgaged over and over. Mod. Humph! it has been a little dipped; but I have always honourably redeemed it, and was as free as air, till I beheld those eyes.

    1825, The London Stage (page 11): "The Farm House" (play)

15. transitiveTo perform (a bow or curtsey) by inclining the body.
16. intransitiveTo sink, drop, or slope downwards.

    The sun is dipping over the now dry and clear Cornish landscape, and is a conclusion to a good day.

    2026 January 7, 'Mystery Shopper', “Cornish cream - without the jams?”, in RAIL, number 1052, page 48

17. intransitiveTo incline downward from the plane of the horizon.

    Strata of rock dip.

    1 more example

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

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

18. transitivedanceTo perform a dip dance move (often phrased with the leader as the subject noun and the follower as the subject noun being dipped)
19. transitiveTo briefly lower the body by bending the knees while keeping the body in an upright position, usually in rhythm, as when singing or dancing.
20. colloquialintransitiveTo leave; to quit or abandon.

    When the time came, he dipped.

    2 more examples

    Twelve people worked on the project, but by the end, most of them had dipped on the real work.

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

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

21. colloquialbiologyTo miss out on seeing a sought after bird.

    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.

    2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 124

plural dips

1. informalA foolish person.

   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.

   2001 January 1, Lisa Beth, “Question of Conversion”, in soc.culture.jewish.moderated (Usenet)

plural dips

1. abbreviationinitialismcomputer graphicsInitialism of device-independent pixel.

plural dips

1. informalA diplomat.
2. informaluncommonA diaper; diap, dipe.

   Synonyms: diap, diapee, diapy, diapie, didee, didie, diddy, didy

plural DIPs

1. abbreviationacronymcountableuncountablebusinessAcronym of dual in-line package.
2. abbreviationacronymcountableuncountablecomputingAcronym of dependency inversion principle.
3. abbreviationacronymcountableuncountablegovernmentAcronym of defence investment plan, any of the periodic multiyear strategic plans for defence spending in the United Kingdom.

   It became clear that future defence investment plans would have to confront a riskier world.

1. abbreviationacronymAcronym of Defence Investment Plan, any specific member of the series (for a particular multiyear period).

   The Defence Investment Plan was released last month; it specifies £370 million towards an AI-assisted battlefield management system.