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

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

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

When Ohio mother Kassi Meyer asked if she should label one paid clip as an ad, a campaign manager texted back: “Say it’s not.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

Dashcam footage showed Loveridge's Kia Sorento clip another car on the A468 in Caerphilly before hitting Howells' car.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

A magnet roughly the size of a pinhead can lift a paper clip against the gravitational pull of the entire Earth.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

But if you watch the full clip from TMZ, he actually offers a small wave and a thumbs-up before being loaded into a van, although he doesn’t speak.

From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026

It’s a news clip of the protesters arguing with the counterprotesters in front of the Manor.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

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

Replays showed the left hand of France's Anais Bourgoin had clipped Werro's right foot.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

We ate vegan pizza and clipped on sequined cat ears.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

She has never clipped her children’s toenails—too anxious for that, she said, so the nanny handles it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

She clipped the wires to the lemons by attaching one end to a nail on one lemon and the other end to a penny on the next lemon.

From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

And to do it, they’re clipping some flabbergasting selections from their media libraries and pumping them out into vertical videos.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 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

Polymarket’s viral clipping campaign racked up more than 140 million views on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, according to the analytics provider Tubular.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026

The horse then bolted, before clipping another carriage and toppling over, footage showed.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

The coyote spun and snapped, just clipping Bristle’s back foot.

From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker

"There was a lock of that black hair clipt from her head once when she knew it not," Sir John cried next.

From His Grace of Osmonde Being the Portions of That Nobleman's Life Omitted in the Relation of His Lady's Story Presented to the World of Fashion under the Title of A Lady of Quality by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Whereat he laughed and clipt my hand, and swore I was a true soldier and a brave gentleman to boot.

From The Master of Appleby A Novel Tale Concerning Itself in Part with the Great Struggle in the Two Carolinas; but Chiefly with the Adventures Therein of Two Gentlemen Who Loved One and the Same Lady by Francis Lynde

Costumes and dress are rough and simple and of heavy woolens, clipt from the sheep and woven on the spot.

From Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume 4 France and the Netherlands, Part 2 by Francis W. (Francis Whiting) Halsey

She passed within the lodge, and threw her arms about his neck, clipt him and kissed him.

From The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VII (of X)—Continental Europe I by Henry Cabot Lodge

Back flew the bolt of lissom lath; Fair Margaret, in her tidy kirtle, Led the lorn traveller up the path, Through clean clipt rows of box and myrtle.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 362, March 21, 1829 by Various

Related Words

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