whip

From Middle English whippen, wippen (“to flap violently”), from Middle Dutch wippen (“to swing, leap, dance, oscillate”) and Middle Low German wippen (“to move quickly”), from Proto-Germanic *wipjaną (“to move back and forth”). Some similarity to Sanskrit root वेप् (vep, “shake, flourish”), Latin vibrō (“I shake”). (See Swedish vippa and Danish vippe (“to shake”)).

• enPR: wĭp, IPA^(key): /wɪp/
• Rhymes: -ɪp

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• enPR: hwĭp, IPA^(key): /ʍɪp/

whip (plural whips)

1. A lash; a pliant, flexible instrument, such as a rod (commonly of cane or rattan) or a plaited or braided rope or thong (commonly of leather) used to create a sharp "crack" sound for directing or herding animals.

   I had to use the whip to get the sheep's attention.

   1. The same instrument used to strike a person or animal for corporal punishment or torture.

      Once he ran out of appeals, he knew he would soon feel the sting of the whip.

2. (hunting) A whipper-in.
   • 1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin 2013, p. 27:

     From the far side of the wood came the long shrill screech […] which signifies that one of the whips has viewed the fox quitting the covert.

3. (politics) A member of a political party who is in charge of enforcing the party's policies in votes.

   I was going to vote against the bill, but the party whip came to see me and made it clear I needed to vote for it.

4. (Britain, politics, with definite article) A document distributed weekly to MPs by party whips informing them of upcoming votes in parliament.
5. Whipped cream.

   Did you want to add some whip to your coffee, ma'am?

6. (nautical) A purchase in which one block is used to gain a 2:1 mechanical advantage.
7. (African American Vernacular) A mode of personal motorized transportation; an automobile, all makes and models including motorcycles, excluding public transportation.

   Come on, let's take my whip so we can get there in time.

8. (roller derby) A move in which one player transfers momentum to another.
9. A whipping motion; a thrashing about.

   I was startled by the whip of the rope when it finally snapped.

10. The quality of being whiplike or flexible; suppleness, as of the shaft of a golf club.
11. Any of various pieces that operate with a quick vibratory motion
    1. A spring in certain electrical devices for making a circuit
    2. (music) A wippen, a rocking component in certain piano actions.

• (last for directing animals): crop (especially for horses), dressage whip (especially for horses), driving whip (especially for horses), jumping bat (especially for horses), flail, knout, lash, quirt, scourge, sjambok (South African), thong
• (lash for corporal punishment): cat (nautical), flail, knout, lash, quirt, scourge, sjambok (South African), thong
• (political party enforcer): party whip

• whip snake

whip (third-person singular simple present whips, present participle whipping, simple past and past participle whipped)

1. (transitive) To hit with a whip.

   The rider whipped the horse.

2. (transitive, by extension) To hit with any flexible object.

   I whipped her with a newspaper.

3. (transitive, slang) To defeat, as in a contest or game.
   • 2008, Edward Keating, The Joy of Ex: A Novel

     She whips me in the first game of pool, I do not even get a shot. Eight-balled from the break.

4. (transitive) To mix in a rapid aerating fashion, especially food.

   to whip eggs or cream

5. (transitive) To urge into action.

   He whipped the department into shape.

6. (transitive, nautical) To bind the end of a rope with twine or other small stuff to prevent its unlaying: fraying or unravelling.
   • Moxon

     Its string is firmly whipped about with small gut.

7. (transitive, nautical) To hoist or purchase by means of a whip.
8. To sew lightly; specifically, to form (a fabric) into gathers by loosely overcasting the rolled edge and drawing up the thread.

   to whip a ruffle

   • John Gay

     In half-whipped muslin needles useless lie.

9. (transitive) To throw or kick an object at a high velocity.
   • He whipped the ball at me.
   • 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC‎:

     Composed play then saw Sam Ricketts nutmeg Ashley Cole before Taylor whipped a fine curling effort over Petr Cech's bar.

10. (transitive) To fish a body of water especially by making repeated casts.
    • Emerson

      whipping their rough surface for a trout

11. (intransitive) To snap back and forth like a whip.
    • The pennants whipped in the wind.
12. (intransitive) To move very fast.
    • The wind whipped through the valley.
    • L'Estrange

      Two friends, travelling, met a bear upon the way; the one whips up a tree, and the other throws himself flat upon the ground.

    • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

      He looked up when I came in, gave a kind of cry, and whipped upstairs into the cabinet. It was but for one minute that I saw him, but the hair stood upon my head like quills.

13. (transitive) To move (something) very fast; often with up, out, etc.
    • L'Estrange

      She, in a hurry, whips up her darling under her arm.

    • Walpole

      He whips out his pocketbook every moment, and writes descriptions of everything he sees.

14. (transitive, roller derby) To transfer momentum from one skater to another.
15. (figuratively) To lash with sarcasm, abuse, etc.
    • Shakespeare

      They would whip me with their fine wits.

16. To thrash; to beat out, as grain, by striking.

    to whip wheat

• (to hit with a whip): Thesaurus:whip
• (to move very fast): flail
• thrash
• thresh

• ghost ride the whip

• Samuel Johnson, John Walker, Robert S. Jameson: 1828. A dictionary of the English language 2nd edition. Publisher: William Pickering, 1828. 831 pages. Page 818. Google Public Domain Books :

• whip in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• whip at OneLook Dictionary Search