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tripe

[trahyp]
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noun
  1. the first and second divisions of the stomach of a ruminant, especially oxen, sheep, or goats, used as food.Compare honeycomb tripe, plain tripe.
  2. Slang. something, especially speech or writing, that is false or worthless; rubbish.
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Origin of tripe

1250–1300; 1885–90 for def 2; Middle English < Old French < ?
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

drivel, gibberish, hogwash, garbage, bunk, baloney, bilge, hooey, poppycock, bull, balderdash, trash, BS, bosh

Examples from the Web for tripe

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Let them boil up, and add them to the tripe just before you send it to table.

  • On two nights in the week, tripe was sold in the town ready dressed.

    The Channings

    Mrs. Henry Wood

  • Jenkins invited me to supper; tripe and onions; and I'd like to know what it all means, and where the supper is.

    The Channings

    Mrs. Henry Wood

  • Cats were purring on the counters of the fruit store and the tripe shop.

    L'Assommoir

    Emile Zola

  • The insipid odour of the meat, the pungent smell of the tripe exasperated him.

British Dictionary definitions for tripe

tripe

noun
  1. the stomach lining of an ox, cow, or other ruminant, prepared for cooking
  2. informal something silly; rubbish
  3. (plural) archaic, informal intestines; belly
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Word Origin

C13: from Old French, of unknown origin
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 tripe

n.

c.1300, from Old French tripe "entrails used as food" (13c.), of unknown origin, perhaps via Spanish tripa from Arabic therb "suet" (but also said to mean "fold of a piece of cloth"). Applied contemptuously to persons (1590s), then to anything considered worthless, foolish, or offensive (1892).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper