Word: dip Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English dippen, from Old English dyppan, from Proto-West Germanic *duppjan, from Proto-Germanic *dupjaną; see *daupijaną (“to dip”). Related to deep. Pronunciation: /dɪp/ 1. A lower section of a road or geological feature. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: There is a dip in the road ahead. Example: They were all doomed to be disappointed, however, for the errant engine decided at Stanley junction to spend the remainder of its crowded hour of freedom on the Aberdeen line, and finally came to rest, short of breath, in the dip between Ballathie and Cargill, near the bridge over the Tay. 2. Inclination downward; direction below a horizontal line; slope; pitch. Labels: countable, uncountable 3. The action of dipping or plunging for a moment into a liquid. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: With his precious charge / Embark'd, Sinicus gently ſteers along; / The dip of oars in uniſon awake / Without alarming ſilence; […] 4. A tank or trough where cattle or sheep are immersed in chemicals to kill parasites. Labels: countable, uncountable 5. A dip stick. Labels: countable, uncountable 6. A swim, usually a short swim to refresh. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: I’m going for a dip before breakfast. 7. A pickpocket. Labels: colloquial, countable, dated, uncountable Example: The Moocher was a "dip" in a dilettante sort of way, and his particular graft was boarding street-cars with his papers and grabbing women's pocket-books. Example: To steal a housewife's purse might mean that her children would have to go hungry; but what of that, if the flash young “dip” could gain admiration from his mates by boasting that he had “frisked a judy's cly and lifted a skinful of bunce”? 8. A sauce for dipping. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: This onion dip is just scrumptious. 9. The angle from horizontal of a planar geologic surface, such as a fault line. Labels: countable, uncountable 10. A dipped candle. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: by the feeble light of the dip, he beheld the pale, haggard face of Smallbones 11. A move in many different styles of partner dances, often performed at the end of a dance, in which the follower leans far to the side and is supported by the leader. Labels: countable, uncountable 12. A gymnastic or bodybuilding exercise on parallel bars in which the performer, resting on his hands, lets his arms bend and his body sink until his chin is level with the bars, and then raises himself by straightening his arms. Labels: countable, uncountable 13. The viscid exudation that is dipped out from incisions in the trees. Virgin dip is the runnings of the first year, yellow dip the runnings of subsequent years. Labels: countable, uncountable 14. A sudden drop followed by a climb, usually to avoid obstacles or as the result of getting into an airhole. Labels: countable, uncountable 15. Finely ground tobacco, consumed by placing a small amount between the lip and gum. Labels: uncountable Example: Packed a lip full of beluga caviar after mistaking a tin for a can of dip and then spat the juice into an urn that I thought was a sombre spittoon. 16. The act of missing out on seeing a sought after bird. Labels: colloquial, countable, uncountable Example: I'd missed them by a couple of hours. This dip did not bode well for the Hudwit. 17. Fried bread. Labels: UK, dialectal, uncountable Example: My Dad, God bless him, rarely cooked anything, but if he ever did he would make himself an egg banjo! Fried bread? Or ‘dip’? 18. A financial asset in decline, seen as an investment opportunity. Labels: countable, informal, uncountable Example: buy the dips