clip - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
From Middle English clippen, cleppen, clüppen, from Old English clyppan (“to hug, embrace, cherish, clasp”), from Proto-Germanic *klumpijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *glemb-, *glembʰ- (“lump, clump, clod, clamp”). Cognate with Old Frisian kleppa, klippa (“to hug, embrace”), Middle High German klimpen, klimpfen (“to contract tightly, constrict, squeeze”).
clip (third-person singular simple present clips, present participle clipping, simple past and past participle clipped)
- To grip tightly.
- To fasten with a clip.
Please clip the photos to the pages where they will go. - (archaic) To hug, embrace.
- 1593, Thomas Nashe, The Choice of Valentines:
"As how, my lambkin," blushing, she replide, / "Because I in this dancing schoole abide? / If that it be, that breede's this discontent, / We will remoue the camp incontinent: / For shelter onelie, sweete heart, came I hither, / And to auoide the troblous stormie weather; / But now the coaste is cleare, we will be gonne, / Since, but thy self, true louer I haue none." / With that she sprung full lightlie to my lips / And fast about the neck me colle's, and clips ... - c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
What, fifty of my followers at a clap! - 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [_i.e._, Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:
When we had sufficiently graduated our advances towards the main point, by toying, kissing, clipping, feeling my breasts, now round and plump, feeling that part of me I might call a furnace-mouth, from the prodigious intense heat his fiery touches had rekindled there, my young sportsman, embolden'd by every freedom he could wish, wantonly takes my hand, and carries it to that enormous machine of his
- 1593, Thomas Nashe, The Choice of Valentines:
- (slang) To collect signatures, generally with the use of a clipboard.
to grip tightly
- Bulgarian: защипвам (bg) (zaštipvam)
- French: maintenir (fr)
- German: festklemmen (de), klammern (de)
- Māori: rawhi, rarawhi
- Portuguese: agarrar (pt)
- Russian: зажима́ть (ru) impf (zažimátʹ), зажа́ть (ru) pf (zažátʹ) (to clamp), закрепля́ть (ru) impf (zakrepljátʹ), закрепи́ть (ru) pf (zakrepítʹ)
- Vietnamese: kẹp (vi), ghim (vi)
to fasten with a clip
- Bulgarian: прикачам (bg) (prikačam) (с кламер)
- Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can - Danish: clipse, klipse
- Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
- Finnish: liittää (fi), kiinnittää paperiliittimellä
- French: pincer (fr)
- German: klemmen (de), klammern (de)
- Portuguese: grampear (pt)
- Russian: закрепля́ть (ru) impf (zakrepljátʹ), закрепи́ть (ru) pf (zakrepítʹ) (скобо́й, зажи́мом, скре́пкой)
- Spanish: please add this translation if you can
clip (plural clips)
A clip (1) on a penknife, to allow it to be attached to a belt.
Clips (4) for loading M1 (left) and SKS (right) rifles.
- Something which clips or grasps; a device for attaching one object to another.
Use this clip to attach the check to your tax form. - An unspecified, but normally understood as rapid, speed or pace.
She reads at a pretty good clip.
He was walking at a fair clip and I was out of breath trying to keep up. - (obsolete) An embrace.
- c. 1580s, Philip Sidney, “Astrophel and Stella”, in [Mary Sidney], editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia […] [The New Arcadia], 3rd edition, London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1598, →OCLC, sonnet 8, page 521:
But finding theſe North climes do coldly him embrace, / Not vſde to frozen clips, he ſtraue to find ſome part, / Where with most eaſe & warmth he might employ his art: […]
- c. 1580s, Philip Sidney, “Astrophel and Stella”, in [Mary Sidney], editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia […] [The New Arcadia], 3rd edition, London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1598, →OCLC, sonnet 8, page 521:
- (military) A frame containing a number of rounds of ammunition which is intended to be inserted into an internal magazine of a firearm to allow for rapid reloading.
- (military, colloquial) A removable magazine of a firearm.
- A projecting flange on the upper edge of a horseshoe, turned up so as to embrace the lower part of the hoof; a toe clip or beak.
- 1831-1850, William Youatt, On the Structure and the Diseases of the Horse
The heel - clips are two clips at the heels of the side bars , which correspond to the toe - clip ; the latter embracing the toe of the crust , whilst the former embrace its heels
- 1831-1850, William Youatt, On the Structure and the Diseases of the Horse
- (fishing, UK, Scotland) A gaff or hook for landing the fish, as in salmon fishing.
something which clips or grasps; a device for attaching one object to another.
- Arabic: مِشْبَك m (mišbak)
- Armenian: please add this translation if you can
- Assamese: কিলিপ (kilip)
- Azerbaijani: qısqac (az), sıxac
- Belarusian: сашчэ́пка f (saščépka), заціска́ч m (zaciskáč), за́ціск m (zácisk), скаба́ f (skabá), кліпс m (klips)
- Bulgarian: скоба (bg) f (skoba), щипка (bg) f (štipka), кламер m (klamer)
- Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can - Czech: spona f, svorka (cs) f
- Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
- Finnish: nipistin (fi), klipsi
- French: pince (fr) f
- German: Klips m, Clips (de) m, Klammer (de) f, Klemme (de) f
Alemannic German: Chlempi f - Japanese: please add this translation if you can
- Macedonian: шти́пка f (štípka)
- Māori: rawhi
- Portuguese: clipe (pt) m, clips m (colloquial)
- Romanian: agrafă (ro) f
- Russian: скре́пка (ru) f (skrépka), зажи́м (ru) m (zažím), скоба́ (ru) f (skobá), кли́пса (ru) f (klípsa) (broach, earring), клипс (ru) m (klips)
- Slovak: sponka f
- Spanish: please add this translation if you can
- Thai: please add this translation if you can
- Turkish: kıskaç (tr)
- Ukrainian: скрі́пка f (skrípka), затиска́ч m (zatyskáč), за́тиск m (zátysk), скоба́ f (skobá), кліпс m (klips)
- Vietnamese: kẹp (vi) (cái), ghim (vi) (cái)
From Middle English clippen, from Old Norse klippa (“to clip, cut the hair, shear sheep”). Cognate with Icelandic klippa (“to clip”), Swedish klippa (“to clip”), Danish klippe (“to clip”), Norwegian Bokmål klippe (“to clip”).
clip (third-person singular simple present clips, present participle clipping, simple past and past participle clipt or clipped)
- To cut, especially with scissors or shears as opposed to a knife etc.
She clipped my hair with her scissors.
Please clip that coupon out of the newspaper. - To curtail; to cut short.
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:
All my reports go with the modest truth; / No more nor clipped, but so. - 1712 March 4 (date written; Gregorian calendar), J[onathan] Swift, A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue; […], 2nd edition, London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke, […], published 1712, →OCLC, page 23:
Not only the ſeveral Towns and Countries[sic – meaning _Counties_] of England, have a different way of pronouncing, but even here in London they clip their Words after one Manner about the Court, another in the City, and a third in the Suburbs; and in a few Years, it is probable, will all differ from themſelves, as Fancy or Faſhion ſhall direct: All which, reduced to Writing, would entirely confound Orthography.
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:
- (dialectal, informal) To strike with the hand.
I’ll clip ye round the lugs! - To hit or strike, especially in passing.
The car skidded off the road and clipped a lamppost. - (American football) To perform an illegal tackle, throwing the body across the back of an opponent's leg or hitting him from the back below the waist while moving up from behind unless the opponent is a runner or the action is in close line play.
- (signal processing) To cut off a signal level at a certain maximum value.
- 2004, John Jackman, Lighting for Digital Video and Television, page 25:
The WFM display above shows a very contrasty picture with clipped whites and blacks.
- 2004, John Jackman, Lighting for Digital Video and Television, page 25:
- (computer graphics) To discard (an occluded part of a model or scene) rather than waste resources on rendering it.
- (computer graphics, video games, ambitransitive) To move (through or into) (a rendered object or barrier).
The camera keeps clipping that ceiling.
Clipping through walls is integral to the game's speedruns.
Oh, no, I clipped my avatar through the barrier! - (slang) To assassinate; to bump off.
Synonym: whack- 2021, Peter McKenna, 10:49 from the start, in Kin, season 1, episode 8, spoken by Michael Kinsella (Charlie Cox):
It was after they tried to clip me at the cafe.
- 2021, Peter McKenna, 10:49 from the start, in Kin, season 1, episode 8, spoken by Michael Kinsella (Charlie Cox):
- (slang, transitive) To cheat, swindle, or fleece.
- (slang, transitive) to grab or take stealthily.
- To make a clip; to cut a section of video from a film, broadcast, or other longer video.
I clipped the moment they beat the world record live on stream. - (surgery, transitive) To treat (an aneurysm) by closing it off with a physical clip.
- beclip
- clipcock
- clip it
- clipjoint, clip-joint, clip joint
- clipmapping
- clippable
- clippie
- clip someone's wings
- clip the wings of
- noclip
to cut, especially with scissors or shears as opposed to a knife etc
- Armenian: please add this translation if you can
- Bulgarian: стрижа (bg) (striža), кастря (bg) (kastrja), подрязвам (bg) (podrjazvam)
- Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can - Czech: stříhat (cs)
- Danish: klippe (da)
- Esperanto: tondi (eo)
- Finnish: saksia (fi)
- French: découper (fr)
- Macedonian: стри́же (stríže), ка́стри (kástri)
- Polish: przyciąć (pl) pf, przycinać (pl) impf
- Portuguese: cortar (pt), recortar (pt)
- Russian: стричь (ru) impf (stričʹ), постри́чь (ru) pf (postríčʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: cliop
- Thai: please add this translation if you can
- Turkish:
Ottoman Turkish: قرقمق (kırkmak) - Vietnamese: cắt (vi), xén (vi), hớt (vi)
to hit or strike in passing
clip (countable and uncountable, plural clips)
- Something which has been clipped from a larger whole:
Synonyms: cutting, snippet; see also Thesaurus:piece- 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 161:
Early [teddy] bears were made of the clip of angora goats.
- The product of a single shearing of sheep.
- A season's crop of wool.
- A section of video taken from a film, broadcast, or other longer video.
Synonym: video clip
The morning news today played a clip of last night's debate.
The 100th episode of Seinfeld consisted of clips from previous episodes. - A short piece of audio (shortened version of audio clip, or alternatively clipping of audio).
Synonyms: audio clip, sound bite, sound clip - A newspaper clipping.
- 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 161:
- An act of clipping, such as a haircut.
I went into the salon to get a clip. - (uncountable, Geordie) The condition of something, its state.
Deeky the clip of that aad wife ower thor! - (informal) A blow with the hand (often in the set phrase clip round the ear)
Give him a clip round the ear!- 1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 67:
Oh sure, I got the odd clip under the ear.
- 1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 67:
something which has been clipped
- Arabic: كْلِيبْ (klīb)
- Bulgarian: клип m (klip), изрезка (bg) f (izrezka)
- Esperanto: filmeto (video clip)
- Finnish: leike (fi), klippi, videoleike
- French: extrait (fr) m, clip (fr) m
- Māori: topenga pāpāho (from a media presentation e.g. a video or audio clip))
- Portuguese: recorte (pt) m, trecho (pt) m, excerto (pt) m, fragmento (pt) m
- Russian: вы́резка (ru) f (výrezka), клип (ru) m (klip) (video clip)
an act of clipping
Bulgarian: стригане n (strigane), подрязване (podrjazvane)
Macedonian: стри́жење n (stríženje)
Russian: стри́жка (ru) f (strížka) (hair, fur), выреза́ние (ru) n (vyrezánije) (cutting out)
Scottish Gaelic: cliop m (hair)
Frank Graham, editor (1987), “CLIP”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN.
National Football League (2007). Official Rules of the National Football League 2007. Triumph Books.
clip m (plural clips)
- “clip”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
- “clip”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
clip m (plural clips)
- music video
- clip-on (earring)
- vidéoclip
- “clip”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
clip (present analytic clipeann, future analytic clipfidh, verbal noun clipeadh, past participle clipthe)
- (transitive) prick; tease, torment
- (transitive) tire, wear, out
Conjugation of clip (first conjugation – A)
† archaic or dialect form
‡ dependent form
- clipire m (“teaser, tormentor”)
- cliptheach (“prickly; teasing, tormenting”, adjective)
Mutated forms of clip
| radical | lenition | eclipsis |
|---|---|---|
| clip | chlip | gclip |
Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.
- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “clip”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
- de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959), “clip”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
- “clip”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026
Unadapted borrowing from English clip.
clip m (invariable)
^ clip in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
clip n (plural clipuri)
- clip (video)
clip m (plural clips)
- paper clip
Synonym: sujetapapeles - clip (something which clips or grasps; a device for attaching one object to another.)
pendientes de clip ― clip earrings - (firearms) clip (frame containing a number of bullets)
Synonym: fragmento
- “clip”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
- (humorous) cờ nhíp (mimicking stereotypical Northern shift /l/ > /ɲ/)
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [klip̚˧˦], [kəː˨˩ lip̚˧˦]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [klip̚˦˧˥], [kəː˦˩ lip̚˦˧˥]
- (Saigon) IPA(key): [klip̚˦˥], [kəː˨˩ lip̚˦˥]
- Phonetic spelling: clíp, cờ líp
clip
- clip (video)