kip
1 Americannoun
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the hide of a young or small beast.
-
a bundle or set of such hides.
noun
noun
-
kip,
plural
-
kips
plural
noun
verb (used without object)
noun
-
sleep or slumber
to get some kip
-
a bed or lodging
-
a brothel
verb
-
to sleep or take a nap
-
(foll by down) to prepare for sleep
noun
noun
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of kip1
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English kipp, from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German kip “pack (of hides)”; akin to Old Norse kippa “bundle”
Origin of kip2
An Americanism dating back to 1910–15; ki(lo) + p(ound) 2
Origin of kip3
First recorded in 1950–55, kip is from the Lao word kì:p currency unit, ingot
Origin of kip4
First recorded in 1760–70, in sense “brothel”; compare Danish kippe “hovel, dive,” Dutch kuf “dive, brothel,” Middle Low German kuffe, küffe, kiffe “hovel”; perhaps ultimately expressive variants of the Germanic base of cove 1
Origin of kip5
First recorded in 1965–70; from German kippe “edge, arm of a balance,” from Low German: “point, edge,” from Latin cippus “stake, post”
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.
See Examples For:
By the time you're heading for your kip on Saturday night, a drastic influx of people might be inclined to give the green light to carving Hearts' name on the Scottish Premiership trophy.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
A 30% depreciation in the Lao currency, the kip, has worsened those woes.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 5, 2022
The only two living souls I saw were a couple of vulnerably housed people, using the park benches for quiet kip.
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2021
“I’d be happy to get a sleeping bag and kip under the railway arches if it meant I could leave this place,” he said.
From The Guardian ● May 3, 2018
“Thought we’d jus’ try an’ see if they fancied a kip . . . we’ll jus’ settle ’em down in these boxes.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
He kips on couches and loses somebody's cat.
From The Guardian ● May 23, 2013
The technical discussions ranged from such obscure items as the tariff on kips and pig-meat to important ones concerning future trade with Australia and New Zealand.
From Time Magazine Archive
Says 'e's got some kind o' water wot kips hun' from growink hold, My heye! strikes me if 'e 'ad, 'e wouldn't bein' sellin' soap 'bout 'ere.
From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 6, June, 1862 Devoted To Literature and National Policy by Various
Rosemarie, it kips on tellin' dat you're all de worl' to me!
From By Trench and Trail in Song and Story by Angus MacKay
Suddenly another change came over her features, and her full red kips trembled as with suppressed emotion.
From Clotelle; or, the Colored Heroine, a tale of the Southern States; or, the President's Daughter by William Wells Brown
Thus every summer the immigrant population of Hotel House increased exponentially as incoming workers kipped on friends’ or gangmasters’ floors.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 31, 2018
I graduated from a CrossFit Kid to a CrossFit Teen, snatching and push-jerking and kipping my way through adolescence.
From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2023
Funniest gag Johnson: "UKIP if you want to - David Cameron's not for kipping, not unless, obviously, he's at his sister-in-law's wedding."
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2013
And as your frinds are kipping the denner, and as I've no watch to-night, I'll jist do as we used to do at Rigy.
From The Newcomes Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family by William Makepeace Thackeray
When we came up, we inherited these underground shelters, and they were mighty comfortable after the kipping in the muck.
From A Yankee in the Trenches by Robert Derby Holmes
How we discovered that "kipping" place I can't remember.
From The Road by Jack London
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
