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dip1

[dip]
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verb (used with object), dipped or (Archaic) dipt; dip·ping.
  1. to plunge (something, as a cloth or sponge) temporarily into a liquid, so as to moisten it, dye it, or cause it to take up some of the liquid: He dipped the brush into the paint bucket.
  2. to raise or take up by a bailing, scooping, or ladling action: to dip water out of a boat; to dip ice cream from a container.
  3. to lower and raise: to dip a flag in salutation.
  4. to immerse (a sheep, hog, etc.) in a solution to destroy germs, parasites, or the like.
  5. to make (a candle) by repeatedly plunging a wick into melted tallow or wax.
  6. Nautical. to lower and rehoist (a yard of a lugsail) when coming about in tacking.
  7. Archaic. to baptize by immersion.
  8. Obsolete. to moisten or wet as if by immersion.
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verb (used without object), dipped or (Archaic) dipt; dip·ping.
  1. to plunge into water or other liquid and emerge quickly: The boat dipped into the waves.
  2. to put the hand, a dipper, etc., down into a liquid or a container, especially in order to remove something (often followed by in or into): He dipped into the jar for an olive.
  3. to withdraw something, especially in small amounts (usually followed by in or into): to dip into savings.
  4. to sink or drop down: The sun dipped below the horizon.
  5. to incline or slope downward: At that point the road dips into a valley.
  6. to decrease slightly or temporarily: Stock-market prices often dip on Fridays.
  7. to engage slightly in a subject (often followed by in or into): to dip into astronomy.
  8. to read here and there in a book, subject, or author's work (often followed by in or into): to dip into Plato.
  9. South Midland and Southern U.S. to take snuff.
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noun
  1. the act of dipping.
  2. that which is taken up by dipping.
  3. a quantity taken up by dipping; the amount that a scoop, ladle, dipper, etc., will hold.
  4. a scoop of ice cream.
  5. Chiefly Northern U.S. a liquid or soft substance into which something is dipped.
  6. a creamy mixture of savory foods for scooping with potato chips, crackers, and the like, often served as an hors d'oeuvre, especially with cocktails.
  7. a momentary lowering; a sinking down.
  8. a moderate or temporary decrease: a dip in stock-market prices.
  9. a downward extension, inclination, slope, or course.
  10. the amount of such extension.
  11. a hollow or depression in the land.
  12. a brief swim: She took a dip in the ocean and then sat on the beach for an hour.
  13. Geology, Mining. the downward inclination of a vein or stratum with reference to the horizontal.
  14. the angular amount by which the horizon lies below the level of the eye.
  15. Also called angle of dip, inclination, magnetic dip, magnetic inclination. the angle that a freely rotating magnetic needle makes with the plane of the horizon.
  16. a short, downward plunge, as of an airplane.
  17. a candle made by repeatedly dipping a wick into melted tallow or wax.
  18. Gymnastics. an exercise on the parallel bars in which the elbows are bent until the chin is on a level with the bars, and then the body is elevated by straightening the arms.
  19. Slang. a pickpocket.
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Idioms
  1. at the dip, Nautical. not fully raised; halfway up the halyard: an answering pennant flown at the dip.Compare close(def 75b).
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Origin of dip1

before 1000; Middle English dippen (v.), Old English dyppan; akin to German taufen to baptize, and to deep
Related formsdip·pa·ble, adjective, nounun·dipped, adjective

Synonyms

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1. duck. 2. scoop. 9. dive.

Synonym study

1. Dip, immerse, plunge refer to putting something into liquid. To dip is to put down into a liquid quickly or partially and lift out again: to dip a finger into water to test the temperature. Immerse denotes a lowering into a liquid until covered by it: to immerse meat in salt water. Plunge adds a suggestion of force or suddenness to the action of dipping: to plunge a chicken into boiling water before stripping off the feathers.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

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British Dictionary definitions for dip into

dip into

verb (intr, preposition)
  1. to draw (upon)he dipped into his savings
  2. to read (passages) at random or cursorily in (a book, newspaper, etc)
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dip

verb dips, dipping or dipped
  1. to plunge or be plunged quickly or briefly into a liquid, esp to wet or coat
  2. (intr) to undergo a slight decline, esp temporarilysales dipped in November
  3. (intr) to slope downwardsthe land dips towards the river
  4. (intr) to sink or appear to sink quicklythe sun dipped below the horizon
  5. (tr) to switch (car headlights) from the main to the lower beamUS and Canadian word: dim
  6. (tr)
    1. to immerse (poultry, sheep, etc) briefly in a liquid chemical to rid them of or prevent infestation by insects, etc
    2. to immerse (grain, vegetables, or wood) in a preservative liquid
  7. (tr) to stain or dye by immersing in a liquid
  8. (tr) to baptize (someone) by immersion
  9. (tr) to plate or galvanize (a metal, etc) by immersion in an electrolyte or electrolytic cell
  10. (tr) to scoop up a liquid or something from a liquid in the hands or in a container
  11. to lower or be lowered brieflyshe dipped her knee in a curtsy
  12. (tr) to make (a candle) by plunging the wick into melted wax
  13. (intr) to plunge a container, the hands, etc, into something, esp to obtain or retrieve an objecthe dipped in his pocket for money
  14. (intr; foll by in or into) to dabble (in); play (at)he dipped into black magic
  15. (intr) (of an aircraft) to drop suddenly and then regain height
  16. (intr) (of a rock stratum or mineral vein) to slope downwards from the horizontal
  17. (intr often foll by for) (in children's games) to select (a leader, etc) by reciting any of various rhymes
  18. (tr) slang to pick (a person's) pocket
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noun
  1. the act of dipping or state of being dipped
  2. a brief swim in water
    1. any liquid chemical preparation in which poultry, sheep, etc are dipped
    2. any liquid preservative into which objects, esp of wood, are dipped
  4. a preparation of dyeing agents into which fabric is immersed
  5. a depression, esp in a landscape
  6. something taken up by dipping
  7. a container used for dipping; dipper
  8. a momentary sinking down
  9. the angle of slope of rock strata, fault planes, etc, from the horizontal plane
  10. Also called: angle of dip, magnetic dip, inclination the angle between the direction of the earth's magnetic field and the plane of the horizon; the angle that a magnetic needle free to swing in a vertical plane makes with the horizontal
  11. a creamy mixture into which pieces of food are dipped before being eaten
  12. surveying the angular distance of the horizon below the plane of observation
  13. a candle made by plunging a wick repeatedly into wax
  14. a momentary loss of altitude when flying
  15. (in gymnastics) a chinning exercise on the parallel bars
  16. a slang word for pickpocket
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See also dip into, dip out

Word Origin

Old English dyppan; related to Old High German tupfen to wash, German taufen to baptize; see deep
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dip into

dip

n.

"stupid person, eccentric person," 1920s slang, perhaps a back-formation from dippy. "Dipshit is an emphatic form of dip (2); dipstick may be a euphemism or may reflect putative dipstick 'penis' " [DAS].

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dip

v.

Old English dyppan "immerse, baptize by immersion," from Proto-Germanic *duppjan (cf. Old Norse deypa "to dip," Danish døbe "to baptize," Old Frisian depa, Dutch dopen, German taufen, Gothic daupjan "to baptize"), related to Old English diepan "immerse, dip," and perhaps ultimately to deep. As a noun, from 1590s. Sense of "downward slope" is 1708. Meaning "sweet sauce for pudding, etc." first recorded 1825.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
dip into in Science

dip

[dĭp]
  1. The downward inclination of a rock stratum or vein in reference to the plane of the horizon.
  2. See magnetic inclination.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Idioms and Phrases with dip into

dip into

1

Investigate superficially, as in He began to dip into Chaucer, or She's just dipping into psychology. This expression alludes to plunging briefly into a liquid. [Late 1600s]

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2

Withdraw something in small amounts, usually money, as in I'll have to dip into my savings. This usage employs dip into in the sense of plunging one's hand or a ladle into a pot, water, or the like for the purpose of taking something out. [Early 1800s]

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.