Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To ooze; trickle; soak through or out.
  • To steep; soak.

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

  • intransitive verb Scot. & U.S. See seep.

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

  • noun US Slit in a tire to drain away surface water and improve traction.
  • noun UK (dialect) A drain.
  • verb US To cut grooves in tires.
  • verb intransitive (UK) To drain, to filter through peat or reeds; to seep.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English sipian , related to seep.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word sipe.

Examples

  • (I think Cathy Seipp of blessed memory did the reverse — "sipe" instead of "seep.")

    Terrance Heath: Sotomayor and the Vulcan Standard, Pt. 2 2009

  • The best ones use a softer compound and a molded-in sipe--a strategically placed groove in addition to the normal tire tread to help carry the water out.

    Best Cars For Snow Bengt Halvorson 2007

  • The best ones use a softer compound and a molded-in sipe--a strategically placed groove in addition to the normal tire tread to help carry the water out.

    Best Cars For Snow Bengt Halvorson 2007

  • If you are interested in participating, contact the O.sipe Temple No. 65 at P.O. Box 1943 or call Bob Cosby at (229) 269-1681.

    unknown title 2009

  • If you are interested in participating, contact the O.sipe Temple No. 65 at P.O. Box 1943 or call Bob Cosby at (229) 269-1681.

    unknown title 2009

Comments

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  • To increase a tire's traction on icy roads by making shallow slashes in the tread surface.

    October 19, 2007

  • There's a tyre ad on TV here at the moment where one of the experts refers to the tread markings as sipes.

    November 19, 2008

  • A marketer knows how to hype:

    Extolling a tire of indifferent type

    He'll sing of its soundness,

    Its ebony roundness,

    Its tread and ingenious new sipe.

    May 3, 2015