tipple
1 Americanverb (used without object)
-
tipples,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tippled,
past participle, past
-
tippling
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
tipples,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tippled,
past participle, past
-
tippling
present participle
noun
noun
-
a device that tilts or overturns a freight car to dump its contents.
-
a place where loaded cars are emptied by tipping.
-
Mining. a structure where coal is cleaned and loaded in railroad cars or trucks.
noun
-
a device for overturning ore trucks, mine cars, etc, so that they discharge their load
-
a place at which such trucks are tipped and unloaded
verb
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tipplesimple
-
tipplessimple
-
have tippledperfect
-
has tippledperfect
-
am tipplingprogressive
-
are tipplingprogressive
-
is tipplingprogressive
-
have been tipplingperfect progressive
-
has been tipplingperfect progressive
Past
-
tippledsimple
-
had tippledperfect
-
was tipplingprogressive
-
were tipplingprogressive
-
had been tipplingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tipple1
1490–1500; back formation from Middle English tipeler tapster, equivalent to tipel- tap 2 (cognate with Dutch tepel teat) + -er -er 1; cf. tipsy
Origin of tipple2
1875–80, noun use of dial. tipple to tumble, frequentative of tip 2; see -le
Explanation
Use the verb tipple when you want to show that someone drinks moderately but regularly. During Prohibition in the 1920s it was illegal to tipple but today you can tipple almost anywhere — as long as you are 21. As a noun, a tipple is an alcoholic drink. Your usual tipple may be a glass of wine with dinner, but at a summer barbecue your tipple may be beer. From tipple we also get the noun tippler — a person who drinks regularly but moderately. Experts aren't sure where the word tipple comes from, but it may be from a Norwegian word, tipla, which means to drink slowly.
Vocabulary lists containing tipple
Antony and Cleopatra
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 2
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
2014 Vocabulary Video Contest (M-Z)
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
In England, rules designed to curb hooliganism mean it’s not even possible to have a tipple “in view of the pitch” from 15 minutes before kickoff.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Hemingway enjoyed a tipple or three here and joined the likes of Federico Lorca and Salvador Dalí in talk of the arts and society.
From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2026
To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, I guess the rich drink different from you and me — and Sacramento is helping them tipple it up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2024
The results suggest blueberry wine maintains some of the fruit's nutrients and the team identifies ways to optimize components in this superfood tipple.
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2024
Before each shift began, the miners going to work came out of their houses and headed toward the tipple.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Bar directors know such prices can elicit scoffs of disbelief, but they justify the big-ticket tipples by comparing them to special-occasion items at restaurants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
The drink list moves from traditional tipples, such as Manhattans and sazeracs, to Asian-inspired creations, such as the peach soju mule, a riff on the Moscow mule.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 22, 2019
Signature cocktails are nothing new at weddings, but gone are the days of brides and grooms picking their favorite classic tipples.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 27, 2018
Local brothers David, Peter and Jack Baker, who in their previous career distributed Crystal Rock water, produce award-winning tipples, including a smooth bourbon whiskey, vodka and gin.
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2018
As the boat continued up the river it passed many such tipples.
From Ethel Morton's Enterprise by Mabell S. C. (Mabell Shippie Clarke) Smith
It tippled a moment, then clove desperately upward, straight for the crow's nest of the big elm.
From Time Magazine Archive
The McDonoughs began writing bail bonds as a favor to lawyers who tippled at their bar.
From Time Magazine Archive
Things sprang into the air and, before they tippled to the blocks of dancing ice, a boom rolled to the woman's ears.
From Time Magazine Archive
Walpole openly entertained his mistress there; Pitt happily tippled his port on the premises; and Disraeli penned his Endymion between parliamentary debates.
From Time Magazine Archive
Chapter 1.VII.—After what manner Gargantua had his name given him, and how he tippled, bibbed, and curried the can.
From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 1 by Peter Anthony Motteux
Between “Downton” and Professor McGonagall an adoring public saw in Smith an endlessly entertaining, tippling grandmother and that endearing teacher who balanced strictness with caring.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2024
But even those signs of change don’t exactly inspire the kind of lighthearted summer tippling that this season typically prompts.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 8, 2020
A dry British butler helps his tippling master choose love with a waitress or marriage for money.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2019
Even so, Corbyn’s critics pointed out, the institution of tippling with colleagues is never going to go away.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 6, 2016
Each bucket carries its load to the point at which delivery is required, where an adjustable tippling device is ready to catch and tilt the bucket, thus emptying it.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 3 "Convention" to "Copyright" by Various
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
