tip-off

[tip-awf, -of]

noun

Informal.

1. the act of tipping off.

2. a hint or warning.

   They got a tip-off on the raid.

tip-off

noun

1. a warning or hint, esp given confidentially and based on inside information

2. basketball the act or an instance of putting the ball in play by a jump ball

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to give a hint or warning to

Word History and Origins

Origin of tip-off¹

First recorded in 1910–15; noun use of verb phrase tip off

Idioms and Phrases

Supply with secret or private information; also, warn or alert. For example, The broker often tipped her off about stocks about to go down in price, or Somehow they were tipped off and left the country before the police could catch them. [Colloquial; late 1800s]

Example Sentences

Police began investigating Gill after tip-offs from their intelligence sources – including the FBI, who found messages to Gill on Voloshyn's phone when he travelled to the US in 2021.

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He says managers received an anonymous tip-off from a customer pointing out that the same team kept winning with near-perfect scores, prompting an investigation.

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But Penchukov slipped through the net thanks to a tip-off from someone he will not name.

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Thanks in part to the informant and his stream of tip-offs, the Salazares had regained territory they had lost to the Chapitos.

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A decade later, it turned up at an arts and antiques fair in Maastricht and, following an anonymous tip-off, Dutch authorities determined it had been stolen and exported illegally.

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