From en.wiktionary.org:
** English
*** Pronunciation
- [en]
- [en]
*** Etymology 1
1790, [en]. Sense of “clever” may be influenced by [en].
**** Adjective
[tippier]
1. [en] Fashionable , tip-top .
2. * {{ quote-book | en | year=1806 | author=Kitty Crotchet | chapter=The Bootees—A New Song | title=The Port Folio | volume=2 | location=Philadelphia | publisher=John Watts | page=76
|passage=Of all the gay beaux, / That sport their smart cloathes, / There's
none that my fancy can please, / With their _Spencers_ or _Crops_, / Or woolly
_Foretops_, / Like _Bob_ with his _TIPPY Bootees_.}}
1. [en] Clever , neat , smart .
2. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1863 | author= [ 1910 ] | title=Early Letters of Marcus Dods, D.D. | page=344
|passage=She read Renan's _Vie de Jésus_, and I am now going to lend her the
antidote—a TIPPY little bit of criticism by Pressensé.}}
1. Of tea , having a large amount of tips , or leaf buds .
2. * {{ quote-book | en | year=1886 | author=T.C. Owen | title=The Tea Planter's Manual | location=Colombo | publisher=A.M. & J. Ferguson | pages=49–50
|passage=Before rolling some planters are in the habit of sifting the leaf
through a No. 4 sieve, and manufacturing the small leaf and tips that fall
through separately. This will add to the appearance of the tea, by making it
more TIPPY, but unless fancy teas are being made will not pay for the time and
trouble incurred.}}
**** Noun
[en-noun]
1. [en] A dandy .
2. * 1798 , “Whimſical Peculiarities of Expreſſion”, in _The Monthly Magazine and British Register_ , v 6, London: R. Phillips, p 173:
3. *: _Is his dreſs, as we may preſume it will be, elegant; exhibiting no articles of apparel but ſuch as are “All the rage?” he is “Quite the TIPPY .”_
4. [en] Something at the height of fashion , excellent , cool .
5. * {{ quote-journal | en | year=1802 | title=Ladies Literature | journal=New England Quarterly Magazine | volume=2 | location=Boston | page=225
|passage=I underſtand, however, that there is a diſtinction between theſe
names in the city and St. James's; in the latter place you may find faſhion
in the characters of the _ton_, the _taſte_, the _etiquette_, &c. in the city
they are all the _TIPPY_, the _thing_, the _ſort_, &c. and pretty _things_
they are, Heaven knowns! [sic]—with a _ſort_ of a cane, which being twelve
inches long, one blow of an Iriſhman's ſhillalagh would drive _twelve yards_
away.}}
1. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1806 | title=The Port Folio | volume=2 | location=Philadelphia | publisher=John Watts | page=143
|passage=The wig's the thing, the wig, the wig, / Be of the ton a natty sprig,
/ The thing, the TIPPY and the twig, / Nor heed who are the truly wise, / For
after all, in vulgar eyes, / The wisdom's in the wig.}}
1. * {{ quote-book | en | year=1808 | author=Thomas Morton | chapter=A Cure for the Heart Ache | title=The British Theatre; or, A Collection of Plays | location=London | publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme | page=10
|passage=Rent! you boor!—That, for Sir Hubert!—[_Snapping his Fingers_.] Ah!
Nabob's servants be the TIPPY—Every thing be done by them so genteely.}}
1. * {{ quote-journal | en | year=1845 | title=The Frog and the Fox | journal=The New Monthly Magazine and Humorist | location=London | publisher=Henry Colburn | page=371
|passage=As neither of them said “No,” he opened the will, and found that the
old lady had left all the accumulated scrapings of a long life of industry to
her son William, to aid his “great abilities” in promoting the honour of the
family. [...] “That'll do, Smugs,” said Bill, and then turning to his
brothers, he observed. “Just the TIPPY, for I was cleaned out. [...]”}}
**** Derived terms
- [en] , [en]
*** Etymology 2
1886, [en].
**** Adjective
[tippier]
1. [en] Tending to tip or tilt over; unstable.
***** Quotations
[en]
***** Derived terms
- [en]
*** See also
- [en] , [en]
[en]