Definitions

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

  • noun A clever, witty remark. synonym: joke.
  • intransitive verb To make quips or a quip.
  • intransitive verb To say (something) as a quip.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A smart sarcastic turn; a sharp or cutting jest; a severe retort; a gibe.
  • To use quips or sarcasms; gibe; scoff.
  • To utter quips or sarcasms on; taunt; treat with a sarcastic retort; sneer at.

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

  • noun A smart, sarcastic turn or jest; a taunt; a severe retort; a gibe.
  • noun A short humorous or witty comment or observation, usually spontaneously formed in response to a prior comment.
  • intransitive verb To scoff; to use taunts.
  • transitive verb To taunt; to treat with quips.

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

  • noun A smart, sarcastic turn or jest; a taunt; a severe retort or comeback; a gibe.
  • verb intransitive To make a quip.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a witty saying
  • verb make jokes or quips
  • noun witty remark

Etymologies

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

[Alteration of obsolete quippy, perhaps from Latin quippe, indeed, from quid, what; see kwo- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Perhaps from Latin quippe ("indeed").

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Examples

Comments

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  • I love this word. I love asking people to "tell me what you mean, without the quips".

    September 27, 2009

  • Quippy is cute, too.

    September 27, 2009

  • The civic body is planning to provide some temporary cover to the food serving area here. “We want to ensure that rain or sun does not come to create obstacles for the scheme,” an officer quipped.

    March 11, 2014