gyp
1 Americanverb (used with or without object)
noun
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Informal: Offensive. a con, fraud, cheat, or ripoff.
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Informal: Offensive. Also gypper gypster a swindler or cheat.
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Also called gypsy. (in horse racing) an owner of racehorses who also acts as trainer and jockey.
noun
verb
noun
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an act of cheating
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a person who gyps
noun
noun
Sensitive Note
The word gyp is a shortening of Gypsy, an insensitive label that has been used as a disparaging slur for the traditionally nomadic group whose preferred name is Roma. Gyp in the meanings “to swindle” or “a person who swindles” is further insulting to the Roma, since it stereotypes them as cheats and frauds. However, many people are unfamiliar with the origin and history of gyp and Gypsy, so these terms are still in use, even among speakers who generally try to avoid disparaging and offensive language.
Usage
More context on gyp A term you probably want to eject from your vocabulary is gyp, slang for "to cheat" or "a cheat." It is a shortening of the word gypsy, an often derogatory term for the Roma, a nomadic people who have been stereotyped as being swindlers or con artists. Read our Usage Note for even more context on gyp. If knowing the history of gyp has got you reflecting on your word choices, this slideshow, "These Common Words Have Offensive Histories," discusses many other words whose place in your vocab you may want to reconsider.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gypsimple
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gypssimple
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have gyppedperfect
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has gyppedperfect
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am gyppingprogressive
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are gyppingprogressive
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is gyppingprogressive
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have been gyppingperfect progressive
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has been gyppingperfect progressive
Past
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gyppedsimple
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had gyppedperfect
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was gyppingprogressive
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were gyppingprogressive
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had been gyppingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gyp1
An Americanism dating back to 1885–90; back formation from Gypsy. The variants at gyp 1 def. 3, gypper and gypster, are formed from gyp 1 ( def. ) + -er 1 ( def. ) and -ster ( def. ) respectively
Origin of gyp2
First recorded in 1740–50; perhaps from gypsy
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:
I had a knee replacement in my right knee, which has been giving me gyp for the last six years.
From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2021
Davies, who was knighted in March by Prince Charles for services to the arts, laughs quietly at the idea that his leg might have been giving him gyp as he knelt.
From The Guardian ● May 11, 2017
Plenty enough time for the City faithful to give him plenty of gyp.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 15, 2015
Addressing a meeting of the American Advertising Federation in 1969, Ms. Jones, known as a plain speaker, called for the “perpetual elimination from the marketplace” of “the gyp artist or the gimmick specialist.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 8, 2010
And how the policeman who ran the test didn’t even look weird or have a funny name, which felt like a gyp to me.
From "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
Diana Lynn, as the boss of a female swing band, gyps him out of his heart and most of his fortune.
From Time Magazine Archive
Happy gyps her out of her winnings at the crap table, hurries on with his insolvent boys to Schultz's Copacabana, in Brooklyn.
From Time Magazine Archive
Many of these tax-supported agencies have been increasingly effective in guarding the public against television-repair gyps, cheating furniture dealers, heavy-thumbed butchers and other unscrupulous businessmen.
From Time Magazine Archive
Veronica Lake, as a still more astute businesswoman, hires and rehearses the bobby-soxers who screech and faint him into fame, and gyps everyone in sight.
From Time Magazine Archive
When Major Rodger had officially apprised the Colonel of his glorious victory, gyps and re-inforcements were immediately despatched to assist in the holding of the acquired position.
From The Siege of Kimberley by Phelan, T.
“But most women feel gypped by life if they don’t get a chance at it.”
From The New Yorker ● May 1, 2017
Politics is the province of the unhappy and querulous; perhaps all the more so because, having paid, people feel particularly gypped.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 7, 2012
Many a smart art dealer has been sued by a customer who thinks he has been gypped.
From Time Magazine Archive
When the Senator asked Mr. Young if widows, orphans and other investors "don't get gypped by these big holding companies," the Manhattan broker replied: "That's right."
From Time Magazine Archive
It was the Atlantic that broke the market to sixty-five cents, filled their storage tanks and contracted a million barrels more than they had tankage for, then gypped the price to three dollars.
From Flowing Gold by Beach, Rex Ellingwood
The household furnishings of West Coast Gambler Mickey Cohen, currently charged with gypping the government on income taxes, were advertised for sale by a Los Angeles auctioneer.
From Time Magazine Archive
Last week C.P.S. was shocked to its bone marrow: 200 or more doctors had been gypping the plan by charging it for services they had never rendered.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions 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.
