cypher
Americannoun
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Chiefly British. a variant of cipher.
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Also cipher
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a performance by a group of rappers, hip-hop artists, or break dancers who take turns improvising individual verses, dances, etc.
The show ended with a freestyle cypher featuring the rappers from the headliner and the two opening acts.
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an individual verse, dance, etc., that is part of such a performance.
She rose to stardom when her cypher that dissed two other male artists went viral.
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noun
Etymology
Origin of cypher
First recorded in 1995–2000
Explanation
A cypher is a message written in a secret code. Spies during World War II sometimes communicated using cyphers. If you use a cypher to send your friend a message, it may take her a while to figure out what you're trying to tell her. Some cyphers substitute numbers or symbols for letters, and you need a key to decipher — or interpret — them. Another kind of cypher is an unimportant person who's blank or devoid of personality — you might call a lifeless character in a book a cypher. The word has an Arabic root, sifr, "zero, empty, or nothing."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At the BET Hip-Hop Awards cypher, a gathering of rap artists exchanging lyrics competitively, Lamar refuted Drake’s previous assertions of friendships.
From Salon • May 7, 2024
At the BET Hip-Hop Awards cypher, a gathering of rap artists exchanging lyrics competitively, Lamar refuted Drake's previous assertions of friendships.
From Salon • May 7, 2024
King Charles chose the rounded Tudor Crown for his royal cypher when he took the throne in 2022 - and it is being changed in places where his late mother's St Edward's Crown was shown.
From BBC • Feb. 19, 2024
Charles' cypher, portrait or name will eventually find its way into a variety of places:
From BBC • Feb. 19, 2024
She knew her mathematics to the Rule of Three, but whether she could cypher into fractions, I had no idea.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
