clip

¹ American  

[klip] / klɪp /

verb (used with object)

clipped, clipped, clipt, clipping

1. to cut, or cut off or out, as with shears.

   to clip a rose from a bush.

2. to trim by cutting.

   to clip a hedge.

3. to cut or trim the hair or fleece of; shear.

   to clip a poodle.

4. to pare the edge of (a coin).

5. to cut short; curtail.

   We clipped our visit by a week to return home earlier.

6. to pronounce rapidly, with precise articulation and with omission of certain sounds, as of unstressed vowels.

   an annoying habit of clipping his words.

7. to shorten (a word or phrase) by dropping one or more syllables.

8. Informal. to hit with a quick, sharp blow.

   He clipped him on the jaw with a sudden punch.

9. Slang. to take or get money from by dishonest means; swindle; rook.

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verb (used without object)

clipped, clipped, clipt, clipping

1. to clip or cut something.

2. to cut articles or pictures from a newspaper, magazine, etc.

3. to move swiftly.

   He clipped along the highway on his motorcycle.

4. Archaic. to fly rapidly.

noun

1. the act of clipping.

2. anything clipped off, especially the wool shorn at a single shearing of sheep.

3. the amount of wool shorn in one season.

4. (used with a plural verb) clips, an instrument for clipping; shears.

5. film clip.

6. Informal. clipping.

7. Informal. a quick, sharp blow.

   a clip on the jaw.

8. rate; pace.

   at a rapid clip.

clip ² American  

[klip] / klɪp /

noun

1. a device that grips and holds tightly.

2. a metal or plastic clasp for holding together papers, letters, etc.

3. cartridge clip.

4. an article of jewelry or other decoration clipped onto clothing, shoes, hats, etc.

5. a flange on the upper surface of a horseshoe.

6. Also called lug. Shipbuilding. a short length of angle iron connecting and maintaining the angle between two members or surfaces.

7. Archaic. an embrace.

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verb (used with or without object)

clipped, clipping

1. to grip tightly; fasten with or as if with a clip.

2. to encircle; encompass.

3. Football. to block by illegally throwing the body across a player's legs from behind.

4. Archaic. to embrace or hug.

clip ¹ British  

/ klɪp /

verb

1. (also intr) to cut, snip, or trim with or as if with scissors or shears, esp in order to shorten or remove a part

2. to punch (a hole) in something, esp a ticket

3. to curtail or cut short

4. to move a short section from (a film, etc)

5. to shorten (a word)

6. (intr) to trot or move rapidly, esp over a long distance

   a horse clipping along the road

7. informal to strike with a sharp, often slanting, blow

8. slang to obtain (money) by deception or cheating

9. slang to murder; execute

10. 1. to restrict someone's freedom

    2. to thwart someone's ambition

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noun

1. the act or process of clipping

2. something clipped off

3. an extract from a film, newspaper, etc

4. informal a sharp, often slanting, blow

5. informal speed

   a rapid clip

6. the total quantity of wool shorn, as in one place, season, etc

7. another word for clipped form

clip ² British  

/ klɪp /

noun

1. any of various small implements used to hold loose articles together or to attach one article to another

2. an article of jewellery that can be clipped onto a dress, hat, etc

3. short for paperclip cartridge clip

4. the pointed flange on a horseshoe that secures it to the front part of the hoof

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verb

1. to hold together tightly, as with a clip

2. archaic to embrace

Other Word Forms

• clippable
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of clip¹

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English clippen, cleppen, from Old Norse klippa “to clip, cut”

Origin of clip²

First recorded before 900; Middle English clippen, cluppen, cleppen “to embrace, grasp, hold,” Old English clyppan “to embrace, clasp, cherish”; cognate with Old Frisian kleppa

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Explanation

Use the noun clip to talk about a fastener that holds things together, like a paper clip or a hair clip. A clip keeps loose things attached to each other, but when you clip something, you cut small pieces off of it. Think of when you clip your dog's toenails or clip the dangling ends off the blanket you're knitting. You can also use the verb clip for a figurative kind of cutting, like when you clip two minutes off your marathon time or clip your words — say them quickly and tensely — when you're angry.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clip clipped clipping clipt

"We would like to stress that a short clip doesn't always show the full context," a Merseyside Police spokesman said.

From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026

In late October, AFP's fact-checkers debunked a likely AI-altered clip that purported to show a former student of Texas Senate candidate James Talarico accusing him of sexual misconduct.

From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026

Amazon’s cloud business increased revenue at a 39% clip in the third quarter, while analysts tracked by FactSet had been expecting 37% growth.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026

With the U.S. economy growing at a healthy clip and unemployment low, many people ask: Are workers paid appropriately?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

She’d twist up her strawberry-blond hair and clip it back, because for Mom that meant Business, and we’d get to work.

From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller

Adults under 30 regularly get their news in fragments clipped from six-hour Twitch streams and Joe Rogan-style podcasts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

And an ABS review showed the fastball had clipped the top of the strike zone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

Police released body camera footage in April that captured the aftermath of the incident, showing the golfing legend after his vehicle clipped a truck and rolled over.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

Woods was involved in a March 27 road accident in Florida in which his vehicle clipped a truck pulling a trailer and flipped on its side while attempting to pass on a residential road.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

Dr. Zinchenko consulted the very advanced smartphone clipped to the waistband of her bright red pantsuit.

From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein

Weems says clipping helps him make a living from home – giving him more time to spend with his wife and one-year-old son.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

These range from pages on general online forums such as Reddit and Discord, to dedicated clipping sites such as Clipping Culture, Vyro, Whop and Kick.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Right now, her favorite is the Nopal Cactus candle, which she made using a clipping from an employee’s yard.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

Talarico recently said some of his past comments “missed the mark,” and he accused Paxton of “intentionally clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption.”

From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2026

The photo of them with the antlers stretched over their heads was taped to the wall beside it, along with the newspaper clipping that she’d torn out about Mr. Griswold.

From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Avenues must be cut down or disregarded; the groves, the alleys, the formal beds, the terraces, the balustrades, the clipt hedges must be swept away as things intolerable.

From Garden-Craft Old and New by John D. Sedding

Low the ground, Well-nigh by waters clipt, a savage haunt With briar and bramble thick, and 'Thorny Isle' For that cause named.

From Legends of the Saxon Saints by Aubrey De Vere

Immediately below, stood the insulated and respectable mansion or Palace of the Bishop; in the midst of a formal garden--begirt with yet more formally clipt hedges.

From A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume One by Thomas Frognall Dibdin

At the foot of my garden, and hidden from my window by the clipt box hedge, runs Sanctuary Lane, along which I see the heads of the villagers moving to church on Sunday mornings.

From The Delectable Duchy by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

In this style laurel and box-hedges were clipt, and 210marble statues placed against them, 'to break the uniformity of the dark green with pleasant silhouettes.

From The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern Times by Alfred Biese

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Related Words

• mow
• prune
• shave
• shear
• snip
• trim

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