tippy-tap
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɪpitæp/
Forms: form: tippy-taps
form: tippy tap
Senses: examples: text: […] she trots through the halls of her mansion jiggling in her frilly dresses and making tippy-taps with her high heels.
ref: 1991, Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies, Picador, →ISBN, page 199, column 2:
text: But it was not to be, as Armbro Romance exploded out of the pocket and with a couple of tippy-taps from Campbell, the filly crossed the wire in an unreal 1:49.4, with Galleria a well-beaten second.
ref: 1998 June 30, Mark Dudek, “On the Mark: Mark Dudek At Pocono Downs”, in The Times Leader, page 4C:
text: Happily The Delaunay is a few tippy-taps away and lobster roll has joined the menu.
ref: 2012 July 18, Fay Maschler, “Five Things Fay Ate This Week”, in Evening Standard, page 30:
text: I spent a good half hour trying to trap him between a sensible midsize family sedan and the lawnmower; I tried to lure him with treats; I played dead on the garage floor to see if he’d try to eat me. But he was wily and quicker on his tippy-taps than I expected.
ref: 2019 December 20, Kayla Schmidt, “The young people of ND want change”, in The Bismarck Tribune, volume 145, number 354, page A10:
text: “I love my dog, there are several things I do to manage the dander and allergens to ensure she stays with me. When she greets me at the front door after a long day at work with a wagging tail and excited tippy taps it makes it all worth it”— Liz Wallace
ref: 2020 February 21 – March 20, “Are You Allergic to Your Pet?: Breathe Easy”, in 35 West Magazine, Murray Media Group, page 6:
text: A wave of happiness is inevitable when you hear her dainty little tippy-taps as she makes her rounds around the back-of-house and says “hello” to staff with her big brown eyes and sweeping tail wags.
ref: 2021 fall, Lindsey Cook, “Meet Emma!: Chief Happiness Officer”, in TIVOL, page 83:
text: He announced himself with tippy-taps across tile floors, scratched the bedroom and office doors when it was time to move along, huffed at all the trips he had to take up and down the stairs to keep watch over me and hovered hopefully anytime my husband was in the kitchen.
ref: 2022 August 8, Kristen Hare, “Our family’s first dog was the sweet and silent type”, in Tampa Bay Times, volume 139, number 015, page 18A:
text: In the passenger seat, Ridley bounced in place like a dog doing tippy-taps.
ref: 2023, James L. Sutter, chapter 19, in Darkhearts, Andersen Press, →ISBN:
text: This husky mix is as regal as her name – she’s also known as the queen of fetch, the countess of cuteness and the duchess of doggy dancing (she does tippy-taps when eagerly awaiting a treat or game of fetch).
ref: 2023 January, “help us find a home”, in Presidio Sentinel, volume 24, number 01, page 5:
glosses: A step that makes a clicking sound.
examples: text: Why do TV news anchors always do that thing at the end of the show when they gather their papers in a neat pile, stand them on end and give them a little double tippy-tap?
ref: 1997 May 6, Peter Stockland, “Take a seat and ponder the world”, in Calgary Herald, page A17:
text: The rapid tippy-tap of his neighbor’s snare drum sounded, and Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” began.
ref: 1997 October 29, Barbara J. Saffir, “Music students are upbeat”, in The Osceola Sentinel (an edition of The Orlando Sentinel), page 3:
text: Then it’s the viola and sarangi title track, which is quite lovely, and the Barbie-oriental “Buddha of Compassion”, which travels on a dated ambient/big-beat TV-ad chassis. Only fools like me find themselves longing for the motorised tippy-tap of Jaki Liebezeit.
ref: 2005 September 18–24, Nick Coleman, “Jah Wobble”, in ABC (The Independent on Sunday), page 16:
text: However, there is a wall clock directly above me, one of those with the sweeping second hand, a ticking guillotine to accompany the tippy-tap of the keyboard to feed another monster, the empty screen.
ref: 2008 March 3, Rick Methot, “Without a clock, time really goes by”, in Lebanon Daily News, page 4A:
glosses: A light and rapid tap
examples: text: Based in San Luis Obispo, Lifewater focuses all its efforts on the countries of Ethiopia, Uganda and Cambodia, teaching people how to make water safer by building latrines and tippy-taps, a simple gadget used to wash hands with running water.
ref: 2016 August 23, Doug Thompson, “Couple teach clean water importance in Ethiopia”, in Ventura County Star, page 4A:
text: After Peter’s attendance at a Peace Corps sponsored leadership camp, where the kids were taught how to build tippy-taps for hand washing, Peter was so energized when he returned to school that he formed a group, taught them about hygiene, and built six tippy-taps around the school.
ref: 2021, Nancy Daniel Wesson, I Miss the Rain in Africa: Peace Corps as a Third Act, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Modern History Press, →ISBN, page 165:
text: Some of the advantages of tippy-taps are as follows: it is easy to construct, it utilises very little water; it is easier to use and only soap is touched, thereby making hand washing very hygienic because it avoids contamination of the jerry can, unlike the real tap (Biran, 2011) (see Figure 2.2.).
ref: 2023, Balwani Chingatichifwe Mbakaya, Hand Hygiene Practices in Schools: A Guide to Best-Practice in Developing Countries, Routledge, →ISBN:
glosses: A gourd or small jerry can filled with water and attached to a piece of wood at ground level, such that stepping on the wood tips the gourd or can to release a stream of water through a small hole.