Friday, May 18, 2012

Word of the Day for Friday, May 18, 2012

pip \pip\,
verb:
 1. To peep or chirp.
2. (Of a young bird) to break out from the shell.
3. To crack or chip a hole through (the shell), as a young bird.

 Stone's watch pipped eight o'clock. He had curly hair the color of motor oil, and pale green eyes. -- Jonathan Franzen,"The Twenty-Seventh City"

As Fiona's horn pipped, just beyond the cab's black fender. -- William Gibson, "Zero History"

Pip is a variation on the word peep which arose in the 1600s. It comes from the Lithuanian word pỹpti which was originally imitative of a baby bird.

 Dictionary.com Word of the Day