Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of dip

dip(v.)

Old English dyppan "to plunge or immerse temporarily in water, to baptize by immersion," from Proto-Germanic *daupejanan (source also of Old Norse deypa "to dip," Danish døbe "to baptize," Old Frisian depa, Dutch dopen, German taufen, Gothic daupjan "to baptize"), related to Old English diepan "immerse, dip," and probably a causative of Proto-Germanic *deup- "deep" (see deep (adj.)).

Intransitive sense of "plunge into water or other liquid" and transferred sense "to sink or drop down a short way" are from late 14c. From c. 1600 as "to raise or take up by a dipping action;" from 1660s as "to incline downward;" from 1776 as "to lower and raise (a flag, etc.) as if by immersing."

dip(n.1)

1590s, "act of dipping," from dip (v.). Sense of "a downward slope" is by 1708. Meaning "liquid into which something is to be dipped" is attested by 1825, in 19c. especially "sweet sauce for pudding, etc.," also "juices and fat left after cooking meat." The sense "thick, savory sauce for dunking pieces of raw vegetables" (by 1962) is probably a modern re-coinage.

also from 1590s

dip(n.2)

"stupid person, eccentric person," 1920s slang, perhaps a back-formation from dippy. "Dipshit is an emphatic form of dip (2); dipstick may be a euphemism or may reflect putative dipstick 'penis' " [DAS].

also from 1920s

Entries linking to dip

deep(adj.)

Old English deop "having considerable extension downward," especially as measured from the top or surface, also figuratively, "profound, awful, mysterious; serious, solemn," from Proto-Germanic *deupaz (source also of Old Saxon diop, Old Frisian diap, Dutch diep, Old High German tiof, German tief, Old Norse djupr, Danish dyb, Swedish djup, Gothic diups "deep"), from PIE root *dheub- "deep, hollow" (source also of Lithuanian dubus "deep, hollow," Old Church Slavonic duno "bottom, foundation," Welsh dwfn "deep," Old Irish domun "world," via sense development from "bottom" to "foundation" to "earth" to "world").

By early 14c. "extensive in any direction analogous to downward," as measured from the front. From late 14c. of sound, "low in pitch, grave," also of color, "intense." By c. 1200, of persons, "sagacious, of penetrating mind." From 1560s, of debt., etc., "closely involved, far advanced."

Deep pocket as figurative of wealth is from 1951. To go off the deep end "lose control of oneself" is slang recorded by 1921, probably in reference to the deep end of a swimming pool, where a person on the surface can no longer touch bottom. Deep waters by 1530s were figurative of something too much for comfort or safety.

When 3-D films seemed destined to be the next wave and the biggest thing to hit cinema since talkies, they were known as deepies (1953).

dippy(adj.)

"mad, insane, crazy," especially in love, 1903, perhaps from dip + -y (2), but the exact signification is unclear. Another theory connects it with dipsomania.