Meanings
sip1
plural sips
- An event at which people drink alcohol in small, usually subintoxicating amounts.
Earl is always a good time. His appearance at parties, whether it's a smart cocktail sip or a basement gig, is mandatory.
1985 April 20, Joseph Beam, “Black Men Loving Black Men: The Revolutionary Act of the Eighties”, in Gay Community News, page 5
present singular third person sips · participle present sipping · participle past sipped · past sipped
- transitiveTo drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time.
bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.
2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 88472 more examples
He held out to me a bowl of steaming broth, that filled the room with a savour sweeter, ten thousand times, to me than every rose and lily of the world; yet would not let me drink it at a gulp, but made me sip it with a spoon like any baby.
[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, “In the Vault”, in Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC, pages 62–63A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed.
1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC - intransitiveTo drink a small quantity.
[She] rais'd it to her mouth with sober grace; / Then, sipping, offered to the next in place.
1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC - transitiveTo taste the liquor of; to drink out of.
They skim the floods, and sip the purple flowers.
1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC - ScotlandUSalternativedatedAlternative form of seep.
- figurativelytransitiveTo consume slowly.
Even when turned off, these devices can idly sip electricity from your outlet costing you money.
2014 October 20, Erik Hyrkas, "Energy Vampires are Attacking Your Home – Here’s How to Stop Them" (Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy)2 more examples
Sales of lightbulbs which sip electricity, and whose increased cost in the shops is easily paid for over their lifetime, used to double every year; in 1990/1991, they leapt sevenfold.
1995, Richard North, Life on a Modern Planet: A Manifesto for Progress, Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 80It makes a small car, the Chevy Cobalt, which sips petrol in moderation and is therefore selling well.
2008 July 3, “The presidential election: White men can vote”, in The Economist
SIP2
plural SIPs
- abbreviationacronymmediaAcronym of single-issue publication.
- abbreviationacronymbuildingAcronym of structural insulated panel.
- InternetabbreviationinitialismcommunicationsInitialism of Session Initiation Protocol
- abbreviationinitialismUnicodeInitialism of Supplementary Ideographic Plane, the third plane (Plane 2) in Unicode, with 65,536 codepoints (from U+20000 through U+2FFFF), mainly used for less-common CJK characters.
- abbreviationinitialismcomputingInitialism of System Integrity Protection.
- USabbreviationinitialismInitialism of Strengthening Institutions Program.
“The Budget does not include funding for the Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP). SIP is duplicative of other Title III and V program funding for institutional support activities.
2017 May 23, Gregory Krieg and Will Mullery, “Trump’s budget by the numbers: What gets cut and why”, in CNN
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*seyb-“to pour out, trickle, leak out”
- Proto-Germanic*sipōną“to drip, trickle”
- Old Englishsipian
- Middle Englishsippen
- Englishsip
Inherited from Middle English sippen, of uncertain origin. Compare with Low German sippen (“to sip”). Possibly from a variant of Middle English suppen (“to drink, sip”) (see sup) or perhaps from Old English sipian, sypian (“to take in moisture, soak, macerate”), from Proto-Germanic *sipōną (“to drip, trickle”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (“to pour out, trickle, leak out”). Compare also Old High German supfen (“to drink, sip”), from Proto-Germanic *sūpaną (“to sip, intake”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مَصَّة, رَشْفَة
- مَصَّة (maṣṣa)A small mouthful of drink
- رَشْفَة (rašfa)A small mouthful of drink
- مَزّ (mazz)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- كَرَع (karaʕ)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- رَشَفَ (rašafa)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- حَسَا (ḥasā)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- تَمَصّصَto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- تَحَسّىto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- اِمْتَصّ (imtaṣṣ)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- اِرْتَشَفَ (irtašafa)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- اِحْتَسَى (iḥtasā)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Bulgarian глътка, сръбвам
- глътка (glătka)A small mouthful of drink
- сръбвам (srăbvam)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- отпивам (otpivam)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Catalan glop, glopet
- glopA small mouthful of drink
- glopetA small mouthful of drink
- xarruparto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Chinese Mandarin 抿, 啜
- 抿 (mǐn)A small mouthful of drink
- 啜 (chuò)A small mouthful of drink
- 抿 (mǐn)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- 啜to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Czech srkat
- srkatto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Danish sip, nip
- sipA small mouthful of drink
- nipA small mouthful of drink
- slurkA small mouthful of drink
- sippeto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- nippeto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Dutch slokje, nippen
- slokjeA small mouthful of drink
- nippento drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Esperanto trinketo, trinketi
- trinketoA small mouthful of drink
- trinketito drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Estonian sõõm, lonks
- sõõmA small mouthful of drink
- lonksA small mouthful of drink
- rüüpamato drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Finnish siemaus, siemailla
- siemausA small mouthful of drink
- siemaillato drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
French gorgée, siroter
- gorgéeA small mouthful of drink
- siroterto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
German Schlückchen, nippen
- SchlückchenA small mouthful of drink
- nippento drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Greek γουλιά, πίνω γουλιά-γουλιά
- γουλιά (gouliá)A small mouthful of drink
- πίνω γουλιά-γουλιά (píno gouliá-gouliá)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Hebrew לְגִימָה, לָגַם
- לְגִימָה (l'gimá)A small mouthful of drink
- לָגַם (lagám)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Hungarian korty, kortyol
- kortyA small mouthful of drink
- kortyolto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Icelandic sopi, bergja
- sopiA small mouthful of drink
- bergjato drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Irish bolgam
- bolgamA small mouthful of drink
Italian sorso, sorbire
- sorsoA small mouthful of drink
- sorbireto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- sorseggiareto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Japanese すする
- すする (susuru)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Latin sorbillō, dēlībō
- sorbillōto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- dēlībōto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Latvian malks
- malksA small mouthful of drink
Lithuanian gurkšnis
- gurkšnisA small mouthful of drink
Malay hirup
- hirupto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Portuguese gole, bebericar
- goleA small mouthful of drink
- bebericarto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- sorverto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Punjabi ਚੂਸਣਾ
- ਚੂਸਣਾ (cūsṇā)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Romanian gură, înghițitură
- gurăA small mouthful of drink
- înghițiturăA small mouthful of drink
- sorbiturăA small mouthful of drink
- sorbito drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- înghițiturăto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Russian пригуби́ть
- пригуби́ть (prigubítʹ)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Scottish Gaelic balgam
- balgamA small mouthful of drink
Spanish sorbo, sorber
- sorboA small mouthful of drink
- sorberto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- libarto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Swedish smutt, slurk
- smuttA small mouthful of drink
- slurkA small mouthful of drink
- smuttato drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- läppjato drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Tagalog higop
- higopto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Thai ซด, จิบ
- ซด (sót)A small mouthful of drink
- จิบ (jìp)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
- ซด (sót)to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Turkish yudum, yudumlamak
- yudumA small mouthful of drink
- yudumlamakto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Vietnamese hớp, hớp
- hớpA small mouthful of drink
- hớpto drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time
Welsh llymaid, sip
- llymaidA small mouthful of drink
- sipA small mouthful of drink
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with sip
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
sip. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sip
“sip.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sip. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sip,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sip.
Source: sip on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.