kipe

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaɪp/

• Audio (Southern England)

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Etymology 1

From Middle English kipe, kype, from Old English cȳpe, cȳpa (“basket”), from Proto-Germanic *kipǭ, *kippǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *gey- (“to bend, twist”).

Akin to Middle Low German kīpe ("basket"; > German Low German Kiep, Kiepke (“basket”), German Kiepe (“carrying basket”)), Norwegian kaup (“wooden box; crate”).

Noun

kipe (plural kipes)

1. An osier basket used for catching fish.

Alternative forms

• kype

Etymology 2

Perhaps from dialectal kip (“to snatch”).

Verb

kipe (third-person singular simple present kipes, present participle kiping, simple past and past participle kiped)

1. (slang) to steal

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:steal

   • 1987 [1984], James Ellroy, chapter 22, in Because the Night, New York: Avon, →ISBN, page 189:

     Johnny imagines all manner of chrome gadgetry that he could kipe and give to his father to jazz up his ’fifty-six Ford Vicky ragtop.

Alternative forms

• kipp, kype, kypp

Etymology 3

A salmon with the beginnings of a kipe as it enters fresh water.

Noun

kipe (plural kipes)

1. Alternative spelling of kype (“Upturned lower jaw of a male salmonid”)

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “kipe v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Anagrams

• Pike, kepi, pike