Wiktionary

lippy

See also: Lippy

English edit

WOTD – 23 January 2020

Pronunciation edit

 
A pink lippy or lipstick (etymology 2)

Etymology 1 edit

From lip (“fleshy protrusion around the opening of the mouth; (slang) verbal impertinence, backtalk”) +‎ -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense of ‘having the quality of’).[1]

Adjective edit

lippy (comparative lippier, superlative lippiest)

  1. (informal) Having prominent lips.
    • 1906 February, A. Demain Grange, “Mr. Gummidge’s Little Deal: The Story of a Stradivarius”, in The Royal Magazine, volume XV, number 88, London: C[yril] Arthur Pearson Ltd, […], →OCLC, page 375, column 1:
      His eyes were large and prominent, his mouth wide and lippy, and as he bent over his books he emitted sundry low growls and grunts, plainly indicating that his temper was none of the sweetest.
  2. (informal) Having a tendency to talk back in a cheeky or impertinent manner.
    Synonyms: contrarious, argumentative, insolent
    • 1998, Frank Chin, “A Chinaman in Singapore”, in Bulletproof Buddhists and Other Essays (Intersections), Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaiʻi Press in association with UCLA Asian American Studies Center […], →ISBN, page 409:
      No, it's [Tamil is] a happy, snappy, lippy, and loping lingo anyone can see just makes these guys happy to speak and hear.
    • 1998, Dana Redfield, “Something in the Air”, in Lucy Blue and the Daughters of Light: A Novel, Charlottesville, Va.: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 120:
      I hesitated another moment, then followed her with a vow that I would walk out the instant she got lippy. If she wanted to fire me, fine, I'd go, but I'd be damned if I'd let her lay any crap on me.
    • 2006, Ian Rankin, chapter 1, in The Naming of the Dead, London: Orion, →ISBN, side 1 (The Task of Blood):
      His silence conceded the point. Either she'd gotten lippier down the years, or he was getting rusty. Both, probably.
    • 2012, Bill Clegg, “Goners”, in Ninety Days: A Memoir of Recovery, New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN:
      In clothes, language, and manner, he's hip-hop ghetto meets Italian mobster. He's the lippiest, most foul-mouthed, most confrontational kid I've ever met and also one of the funniest.
    • 2016, Annie O’Neil, chapter 1, in Santiago’s Convenient Fiancée (Hot Latin Docs; 1), London: Mills & Boon, →ISBN; republished London: Mills & Boon, 2017, →ISBN:
      Wouldn't it just be my luck to come across the lippiest desk nurse in the whole of Miami?
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Etymology 2 edit

From lip(stick) or lip (gloss) +‎ -y (diminutive suffix).[2]

Noun edit

lippy (countable and uncountable, plural lippies) (originally Australia, now also British, New Zealand, colloquial)

  1. (uncountable) Lip gloss or lipstick; (countable) a stick of this product.
    • 2007, D. M. Ross, chapter 12, in The Holy Bad, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Vanguard Press, →ISBN, page 52:
      Like some kind of masonic handshake, Collie passed Vanya a tube of black lippie. She smeared it carelessly across her wide mouth and handed it to me. My parents would have a hissy fit if they knew I put on lipstick but they weren't around.
    • 2008, Lynn Bertram, “The World of Motherhood”, in Supporting Postnatal Women Into Motherhood: A Guide to Therapeutic Groupwork for Health Professionals, Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Radcliffe Publishing, →ISBN, page 11:
      I'm worried I'm turning into a 1950s housewife: the other day I found myself tidying up the sitting room and putting on some lippie before Tony got home from work!
    • 2008, Rachel Power, “Emma Matthews—Opera Singer”, in The Divided Heart: Art and Motherhood, Fitzroy, Vic.: Red Dog Books, →ISBN; republished Fitzroy, Vic.: Red Dog Books, 2012, →ISBN, page 159:
      'Sorry—just trying on new lippies for tonight,' she confessed, flashing a crimson smile.
    • 2020 January 9, Annie Vischer, “Meghan Markle’s Latest Make-Up Look Decoded”, in Grazia‎[1], London: Bauer Consumer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 January 2020:
      A russet shade of sheer lippy proved the finishing touch to Meghan's latest make-up look. It wasn't a full gloss, but appeared to have a balm-like finish, a pretty touch of shine.
Alternative forms edit
Translations edit

Etymology 3 edit

From leap (“trap or snare for fish made from twigs; (obsolete) basket”) +‎ -y (diminutive suffix).[3]

Noun edit

lippy (plural lippies)

  1. (Scotland, historical) An old dry measure amounting to one quarter of a peck (for goods sold by weight, 1¾ pounds or about four-fifths of a kilogram); also, a container of that capacity.
    Synonym: forpet
    • 1742, Virgil, “Appendix to the Georgicks”, in James Hamilton, transl., Virgil’s Pastorals Translated into English Prose; as also His Georgicks, […], Edinburgh: Printed by W. Cheyne, […]; [s]old by J. Traill and G. Crawford, […]; and by J. Barry […], →OCLC, page 43:
      I ſowed on this Ground, without any Dung or Manure, a Lippy of Oats, from which I had a Boll wanting a Chopin.
    • 1786, Daniel De Foe [i.e., Daniel Defoe], “Appendix. Part I. Containing an Account of Transactions in both Parts of the United Kingdoms, subsequent to the Union; […]”, in A History of the Union between England and Scotland, with a Collection of Original Papers Relating thereto. […], London: Printed for John Stockdale, […], →OCLC, page 600:
      [T]he valuation of lands, tenor of leaſes, the rents, the entails, rent charges, life rents, and payments for or out of land revenue, are all reckoned in Scotland by the chalder, boll, firlot, and lippy, and cannot be altered; [...]
    • 1798, Robert Hamilton, “Subtraction”, in An Introduction to Merchandise. […], 2nd corrected and revised edition, Edinburgh: Printed for Charles Elliot, […]; and for C. Elliot, T. Kay, and Co. […], →OCLC, §19, paragraph XIII, page 19:
      A miniſter's ſtipend is paid by the heritors as follows: James Speers pays 3 bolls 3 firlots 1 peck 3 lippies oats, 2 bolls barley, and L. 3 : 15 : 4; [...]
    • 1825 May, “Statistical Sketch of the Present State of the Established and Dissenting Churches in Scotland. Spring-meeting of the United Associate Synod 1825.”, in The Edinburgh Magazine, and Literary Miscellany, being a New Series of the Scots Magazine, volume XVI, Edinburgh: Printed [by J. Ruthven & Son] for Archibald Constable & Company, →OCLC, page 598, column 1:
      You good Pastors, [...] you who can prevail upon your parishioners to pay the last lippy of your modified tithes, [...]
    • 1852, “BRUCE, Robert”, in Robert Chambers, editor, A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, new edition, division II (Brown–Dalrymple), Glasgow, Edinburgh: Blackie and Son, →OCLC, page 365:
      A Scotch barley boll contains 5 bushels, 3 pecks, 2 lippies, and a little more, according to the Winchester gallon. A Scotch barley boll, according to the legal measure, contains 6 bushels, wanting a little more than ½ lippie.
    • 1860, Thomas Pattieson, “The Smith and the Fairies”, in J[ohn] F[rancis] Campbell, transl., Popular Tales of the West Highlands: Orally Collected: With a Translation, volume II, Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, →OCLC, page 61:
      It was sowens she had in her hand for our supper, when a little old woman walked in and begged a lippie of meal of her.
    • 1871 March, “Three-quarters of a Century Ago. Fortingal.”, in The Poor Law Magazine and Journal of Public Health, volume IV, number IV (New Series), Glasgow: Published for the promoters by N. Adshead, […], →OCLC, page 290:
      Now there are perhaps 24 hogsheads sown yearly, every tenant and crofter having from one to four lippies. The increase is about one stone from the lippie.
Alternative forms edit
Translations edit

References edit

  1. ^ “lippy, adj.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1903; “lippy, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “lippy, n.2”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2002; “lippy, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ Compare “lippy | lippie, n.1”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1903.

Further reading edit

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