dip

UK/dɪp/US/dɪp/

verbB15 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #2,825 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: dipped, dipping, dips

To dip is to put something into a liquid for a second and lift it straight out — a chip into ketchup, a biscuit into tea, a brush into paint. In and out; leave it in and you are soaking, not dipping.

The noun is the sauce you dip into: a bowl of dip beside the crisps, sour cream and onion dip. Dip also means to go down for a while and come back up — sales dipped in January, the sun dipped behind the roofs, there is a dip in the lane that floods every winter. In Britain you dip your headlights for an oncoming car. And dip into is a little verb of its own: dip into a book means read bits of it, dip into your savings means take some out. Keep dip apart from dive — a dip is brief and shallow, a dive goes all the way down.

Definitions of dip

1verbdipTo put something briefly into a liquid and take it out again.B1
“He dipped a corner of the bread into the oil.”
- Said"Dip the biscuit in your tea, but don't leave it there. I'm warning you."
- WrittenShe dipped a corner of the cloth in the bowl and wiped the child's face.
- UsedDip each piece in the batter and lift it straight out.
- ContrastDip, not wash. Washing is a soak and a rub; a dip is in and out again. wash →
- Not thisYou do not dip pasta; you boil it. Dipping is brief, and the thing comes out at once.
- SimplyDip the bread in the soup. Eat it.
Patterndip sth in / into + liquid · dip your toe in · dip and lift · dipped in chocolate
2verbtimeTo go down for a time and then rise again.B2
“Temperatures dipped below zero on Tuesday night.”
3nounthickA thick sauce that food is dipped into.B1
“She made a dip out of yoghurt, garlic and mint.”
4noundownwardA downward slope in a surface, or a fall in a level.B2
“There is a dip in the path where the water always collects.”
5verblowerTo lower something a short way.B2
“He dipped his head to get through the low doorway.”

Remember it

It is related to deep: dip the bread into the soup — in, and out again before it goes too deep.

hooks ontodeep

Phrases it lives in

dip into — read a little of a book, or take a little from a store of money

Where it comes from

Dip comes down through Old English dyppan and Proto-West Germanic *duppjan, beside an old Germanic verb that also meant to dip. Its nearest English relative is deep, and that is where the sense lives: the word is about going down into something, even if only for a moment.

Proto-Indo-European
*dʰewbʰ-
Proto-Germanic
*dupjaną
Proto-West Germanic
*duppjan
Old English
dyppan
Middle English
dippen
English, today
dip

Built from

*daupijaną · Proto-Germanic — to dip

From Middle English dippen, from Old English dyppan, from Proto-West Germanic duppjan, from Proto-Germanic dupjaną; see daupijaną (“to dip”). Related to deep.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of dip

1verbdipTo put something briefly into a liquid and take it out again.B1

“He dipped a corner of the bread into the oil.”

Said"Dip the biscuit in your tea, but don't leave it there. I'm warning you."
WrittenShe dipped a corner of the cloth in the bowl and wiped the child's face.
UsedDip each piece in the batter and lift it straight out.
ContrastDip, not wash. Washing is a soak and a rub; a dip is in and out again. wash →
Not thisYou do not dip pasta; you boil it. Dipping is brief, and the thing comes out at once.
SimplyDip the bread in the soup. Eat it.

Patterndip sth in / into + liquid · dip your toe in · dip and lift · dipped in chocolate

2verbtimeTo go down for a time and then rise again.B2

“Temperatures dipped below zero on Tuesday night.”

3nounthickA thick sauce that food is dipped into.B1

“She made a dip out of yoghurt, garlic and mint.”

4noundownwardA downward slope in a surface, or a fall in a level.B2

“There is a dip in the path where the water always collects.”

5verblowerTo lower something a short way.B2

“He dipped his head to get through the low doorway.”