Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Keenly aware of or knowledgeable about the latest trends or developments.
  • adjective Very fashionable or stylish.
  • interjection Usually used to begin a cheer.
  • noun The laterally projecting prominence of the pelvis or pelvic region from the waist to the thigh.
  • noun A homologous posterior part in quadrupeds.
  • noun The hip joint.
  • noun Architecture The external angle formed by the meeting of two adjacent sloping sides of a roof.
  • noun A rose hip.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The fruit of the dogrose or wild brier, Rosa canina or R. rubiginosa.
  • To sprain, gall, or injure the hip of. In the extract the sense is doubtful.
  • In architecture, to furnish with a hip: as, to hip a roof.
  • To throw (one's adversary) over the hip.
  • To hop.
  • noun A morbid depression of spirits; melancholy: usually in the plural.
  • noun The projecting part of an animal formed by the side of the pelvis and the upper part of the femur, with the flesh covering them; the upper part of the thigh; the haunch.
  • noun The hip-joint.
  • noun In entomology, the coxa or first joint of an insect's leg.
  • noun In architecture: The external angle at the junction of two sloping roofs or sides of a roof.
  • noun The rafter at the angle where two sloping roofs or sides of a roof meet. See cuts under hip-roof and jack-rafter
  • To render hypochondriac or melancholy: scarcely used except as in the participial adjective hipped. See hipped.
  • An exclamation used in applauding or giving the signal for applause: as, hip, hip, hurrah!

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) The fruit of a rosebush, especially of the English dog-rose (Rosa canina); called also rose hip.
  • noun (Bot.) the dog-rose.
  • transitive verb To dislocate or sprain the hip of, to fracture or injure the hip bone of (a quadruped) in such a manner as to produce a permanent depression of that side.
  • transitive verb To throw (one's adversary) over one's hip in wrestling (technically called cross buttock).
  • transitive verb To make with a hip or hips, as a roof.
  • transitive verb See Hip roof, under Hip.
  • noun colloq. See hyp, n.
  • adjective Aware of the latest ideas, trends, fashions, and developments in popular music and entertainment culture; not square; -- same as hep.
  • adjective Aware of the latest fashions and behaving as expected socially, especially in clothing style and musical taste; exhibiting an air of casual sophistication; cool; with it; -- used mostly among young people in the teens to twenties.
  • noun The projecting region of the lateral parts of one side of the pelvis and the hip joint; the haunch; the huckle.
  • noun (Arch.) The external angle formed by the meeting of two sloping sides or skirts of a roof, which have their wall plates running in different directions.
  • noun (Engin) In a bridge truss, the place where an inclined end post meets the top chord.
  • noun (Anat.) the innominate bone; -- called also haunch bone and huckle bone.
  • noun (Anat.) the pelvic girdle.
  • noun (Anat.) the articulation between the thigh bone and hip bone.
  • noun (Arch.) a finial, ball, or other ornament at the intersection of the hip rafters and the ridge.
  • noun (Arch.) a molding on the hip of a roof, covering the hip joint of the slating or other roofing.
  • noun (Arch.) the rafter extending from the wall plate to the ridge in the angle of a hip roof.
  • noun (Arch.) a roof having sloping ends and sloping sides. See Hip, n., 2., and Hip, v. t., 3.
  • noun a tile made to cover the hip of a roof.
  • noun to have or get the advantage of; -- a figure probably derived from wresting.
  • noun to overthrow completely; to defeat utterly.
  • interjection Used to excite attention or as a signal; as, hip, hip, hurra!

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The fruit of a rose.
  • verb transitive, slang To inform, to make knowledgeable.
  • noun anatomy The outward-projecting parts of the pelvis and top of the femur and the overlying tissue.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English hype.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English hipe, from Old English hēope.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English hepe, heppe, hipe, from Old English hēope, from Proto-Germanic *heupōn (compare Dutch joop, German Hiefe, Norwegian dialect hjúpa 'briar'), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb- 'briar, thorn' (compare Old Prussian kaāubri 'thorn', Lithuanian kaubrė̃ 'heap').

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably a variant of hep. Maybe from Wolof hepi ("to see") or hipi ("to open one’s eyes").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English hipe, hupe, from Old English hype, from Proto-Germanic *hupiz (compare Dutch heup, Low German Huop, German Hüfte), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeu̯bh₂- (compare Welsh cysgu ‘to sleep’, Latin cubāre ("to lie"), Ancient Greek κύβος (kýbos, "hollow in the hips"), Albanian sup ("shoulder"), Sanskrit śupti ‘id.’), from *keu-, *keu̯ə- (“to bend”). More at high.

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Examples

  • During the jive era of the late 1930s and early 1940s, African-Americans began to use the term hip to mean "sophisticated, fashionable and fully up-to-date".

    Archive 2007-10-01 Ann Althouse 2007

  • ‡ The term hip-hop also refers to the speech, fashions, and personal style adopted by many youths, particularly in urban areas.

    hip-hop 2002

  • Modern historians trace the term "hip" at least back to the Jazz Age.

    News 2011

  • War, Inc. John Cusack's new movie about war-2/2 classic roc belushi - hip hop jedi knight - the meaning behind the term hip op jediknight

    WN.com - Articles related to Brazil ruling party nominates Silva chief of staff 2010

  • That's why I use the term hip-hop community, because that's the subculture group that uses it.

    Techdirt 2009

  • And yes, if you understood what I meant by the word "hip" you've just dated yourself.

    John Blumenthal: Are You Trying Too Hard to Make Your Kids Think You're Cool? John Blumenthal 2011

  • Drug dealer turned publisher Vickie Stringer addressed a booksellers 'conference in Chicago last week, trying to explain the runaway success of her line of what she calls hip-hop novels.

    IT'S GANGSTA LIT 2007

  • Used the word "hip" with an apparent lack of irony?

    The Guardian World News Hadley Freeman 2011

  • "I've been made into a stereotype, I'm not what you call hip, I wear glasses," states the ad, which, contrary to its earlier star studded effort featuring Gates and Seinfeld aims to appeal to everyday users.

    Fast Company 2008

  • "I've been made into a stereotype, I'm not what you call hip, I wear glasses," states the ad, which, contrary to its earlier star studded effort featuring Gates and Seinfeld aims to appeal to everyday users.

    Fast Company Fast Company staff 2008

  • "Hip dips" is a term popularized on social media to describe the natural indentations or dips where the hips meet the outer thighs.

    'Hip dip workouts' are trending. Here's why they're a waste of time Caroline Kee 2024

  • Hip dips (the BS buzz-term for gentle, small indentations found below your hips and above your thighs, sometimes also called 'violin hips') used to be just another body part the media seem to want to make people feel bad about.

    What are hip dips and why do you get them? Emma Pritchard 2024

  • I don't understand what hip dips are and you are literally perfect like what is supposed to be wtong with you? I dont get it

    em on TikTok 2024

Comments

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  • I'm so hip I can't see over my pelvis. - Z. Beeblebrox.

    November 26, 2007

  • What is hip? — Tower of Power

    September 29, 2008