Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To deprive (another) of something by fraud; cheat or swindle.
- noun A fraud or swindle.
- noun One who defrauds; a swindler.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To swindle; cheat.
- noun A male servant who attends to college rooms. Also
gip . - noun A swindler, especially a swindling horse-dealer; a cheat.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Cant A college servant; -- so called in Cambridge, England; at Oxford called a
scout .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
Gypsophila . - noun England A
college servant . - noun Pain or discomfort.
- noun pejorative A
cheat orswindle ; arip-off . - verb pejorative To
cheat orswindle someone of somethinginappropriately .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb deprive of by deceit
- noun a swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I'm all for being careful with words and respecting the sensibilities of others, but there is no evidence of the term gyp actually coming from the word gypsy it's possible, but so are multiple other origins.
"Cleuless" is Right Jen 2008
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Nor do I believe that most of you hold anyÂprejudicial inclinations toward gypsies even if you occasionally use the word "gyp" or "gypped" in everyday conversation.
Scott Mendelson: Thoughts On The Brett Ratner Mess: When Explicit Slurs Become Part Of Everyday Language And How To Deal With Their Casual And Out-of-Context Use Scott Mendelson 2011
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Nor do I believe that most of you hold anyprejudicial inclinations toward gypsies even if you occasionally use the word "gyp" or "gypped" in everyday conversation.
Scott Mendelson: Thoughts On The Brett Ratner Mess: When Explicit Slurs Become Part Of Everyday Language And How To Deal With Their Casual And Out-of-Context Use Scott Mendelson 2011
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Nor do I believe that most of you hold anyprejudicial inclinations toward gypsies even if you occasionally use the word "gyp" or "gypped" in everyday conversation.
Scott Mendelson: Thoughts On The Brett Ratner Mess: When Explicit Slurs Become Part Of Everyday Language And How To Deal With Their Casual And Out-of-Context Use Scott Mendelson 2011
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Nor do I believe that most of you hold anyÂprejudicial inclinations toward gypsies even if you occasionally use the word "gyp" or "gypped" in everyday conversation.
Scott Mendelson: Thoughts On The Brett Ratner Mess: When Explicit Slurs Become Part Of Everyday Language And How To Deal With Their Casual And Out-of-Context Use Scott Mendelson 2011
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Nor do I believe that most of you hold anyprejudicial inclinations toward gypsies even if you occasionally use the word "gyp" or "gypped" in everyday conversation.
Scott Mendelson: Thoughts On The Brett Ratner Mess: When Explicit Slurs Become Part Of Everyday Language And How To Deal With Their Casual And Out-of-Context Use Scott Mendelson 2011
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Nor do I believe that most of you hold anyÂprejudicial inclinations toward gypsies even if you occasionally use the word "gyp" or "gypped" in everyday conversation.
Scott Mendelson: Thoughts On The Brett Ratner Mess: When Explicit Slurs Become Part Of Everyday Language And How To Deal With Their Casual And Out-of-Context Use Scott Mendelson 2011
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Fellow you call the gyp wanted to make me believe you were out -- thought I looked too like a governor to be let in, I suppose; but it wouldn't do, sir; old birds are not to be caught with chaff; and he spoke with an air of such intense honesty that
Frank Fairlegh Scenes From The Life Of A Private Pupil Frank E. Smedley 1835
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I've been having an exchange elsewhere about the word gyp 'cheat, swindle,' and I am (with some trepidation) bringing it here in the hopes of having a productive discussion and perhaps learning a few things.
languagehat.com 2010
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But he also provides an insight into the equally disturbing class divisions in the university at the time: Mulgrave, a "gyp" or servant to the college's rich students, is a slyly brilliant character who very sensibly refuses to take any nonsense from his betters.
The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor Alison Flood 2010
yarb commented on the word gyp
Annoyance.
E.g. "I wanted to go for a run but my ankle was giving me gyp, so I stayed in and ate a big bag of cheez-its instead."
Or, "darling, pass me the elephant gun. I'm thoroughly sick of those urchins across the street giving us gyp."
January 18, 2008
uselessness commented on the word gyp
Derivative of gypsy?
January 18, 2008
yarb commented on the word gyp
Probably. I wasn't aware of the "swindle" sense until now. Yet another transatlantic nuance.
January 18, 2008
uselessness commented on the word gyp
The "swindle" sense is the only one I've known for this word. If you get ripped off (perhaps another Americanism? meaning to be scammed) you might say "aww, what a gyp!" Actually I'm not sure that I've seen the word in print, and I assumed it was spelled jip or something like that.
January 18, 2008
seanahan commented on the word gyp
I've been told not to use gyp, because it is racially offensive to the Gypsy people, better known as Romani.
January 21, 2008
john commented on the word gyp
Huh--gyp or jip was an elementary school staple for me back in the 70s in Ohio and upstate New York. Not until this moment did I ever consider its derivation. Or how it might be spelled.
January 21, 2008