Definitions

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

  • noun A sharp, high-pitched bark; a yelp.
  • intransitive verb To emit a yip; yelp.

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

  • noun A sharp, high-pitched bark.
  • noun A self-fulfilling defeatist or fatalist mindset.
  • verb To bark with a sharp, high-pitched voice.

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

  • noun a sharp high-pitched cry (especially by a dog)
  • verb bark in a high-pitched tone

Etymologies

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

[Perhaps Middle English yippe, a cheeping sound, from yippen, to cheep, of imitative origin.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • I've heard of golfers having plural of these, but could anyone else have the yips? I'm an accountant: could I say "sorry for screwing up that balance sheet, boss, I just had the yips"?

    And what about a single yip? Could John "Wild Thing" Daly fluff a simple putt due to a sudden yip? What would that look like?

    October 13, 2007

  • Hmm. Not sure I want to know. But apparently, sled dogs have single yips. :-)

    Hey, trivet has a list for the yips! Off I go....

    October 13, 2007