gyp

plural gyps · alternative gip · alternative jip

1. derogatoryoffensivesometimesA cheat or swindle; a rip-off.

   Why do we have to buy this new edition of the textbook when there’s almost no difference between it and the previous one? What a gyp!

2. Synonym of gypsy (“contra dance step”).

   Synonyms: gypsy

present singular third person gyps · participle present gypping · participle past gypped · past gypped · alternative gip · alternative jip

1. derogatoryoffensivesometimesTo cheat or swindle.

   The cab driver gypped me out of ten bucks by taking the longer route.

   3 more examples

   You better watch out; they'll try to gyp you if you don't know what you're doing.

   They're talkin' bout the night Santa went crazy The night St. Nicholas flipped Broke his back for some milk and cookies Sounds to me like he was tired of gettin' gypped

   1996, "Weird Al" Yankovic, “The Night Santa Went Crazy”, in Bad Hair Day

   On Wednesday, Goldberg used a derogatory term associated with Romany people while discussing former president Donald Trump, saying that his supporters are “people who still believe that he got gypped somehow in the election”.

   2023 March 16, Maya Yang, quoting Whoopi Goldberg, “Whoopi Goldberg apologizes for using Romany slur on ABC’s The View”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

plural gyps

1. historicalCambridge University; Durham University; Cambridge University; Durham UniversityA domestic servant, generally male, who would attend upon (usually several) students, brushing their clothes, carrying parcels, waiting at parties and other tasks; generally equivalent to a scout in the historical sense at Oxford University or a skip at Trinity College, Dublin.

   'Why, what is the matter with you, John?' I asked of the gyp who waited on Vincey and myself.

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   All was neglect. The outer door of this room, which was open, was nearly on a level with the Quadrangle — some coats and trousers and boots were upon the ebony table and a "gyp" was brushing away at them just within the door — in wet weather he performed these functions entirely within the library, as innocent of the incongruity of his position as my guide himself.

   1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 40

   Had he acted discourteously to his bedmaker or his gyp, he would have minded just as much … .

   1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, I [Uniform ed., p. 14]

2. Cambridge University; Durham University; Cambridge University; Durham UniversityThe room in which such college servants work.
3. Cambridge University; Durham University; Cambridge University; Durham UniversityA small kitchen for use by college students.

plural gyps

1. Gypsophila.

plural gyps

1. Pain or discomfort.

   My back's giving me gyp.

   1 more example

   The oldest wizard, Greyhald Spold of the Ancient and Truly Original Sages of the Unbroken Circle, leaned heavily on his carven staff and spake thusly: ‘Get on with it, Weatherwax, my feet are giving me gyp.’

   1986, Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic, published 2022, pages 33-34