gippo

English

Alternative forms

• gyppo

Etymology

An alteration of gypsy, which is in turn an alteration of Egyptian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɪpəʊ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪpəʊ

Noun

gippo (countable and uncountable, plural gippos or gippoes)

1. (British, offensive, slang) A Gypsy.
2. (British, offensive, slang, rare) An Egyptian.
3. (British, military, slang, uncountable) Gravy.
   • 2006, George H. Coward, Coward's War:

     He had his “dinner” in his canteen and placed it on the ground to go and “scrounge” a chunk of bread to help “fill up”, and as soon as he turned his back a dog walked in at the door of the barn, where we were “in residence” as they say “higher up”, [only we “flew no flag”], and started lapping up some of the “gippo”, [gravy] of which the said dinner was composed [in fact 'twas more “gippo” than dinner that day, so who could blame a dog for being mistaken].

   • 2006, Mildred Joan Tulip, My experiences as a VAD nurse:

     They were always asking for ‘more gippo’ (gravy) which we got for them if we could.

4. Short for gyppo logger.

Derived terms

• gyppo logger

Descendants

• → Swedish: jippo

Translations

Gypsy — see Gypsy

Egyptian — see Egyptian

References

• (gypsy; Egyptian): Tony Thorne (2014) “gippo”, in Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, 4th edition, London,  […]: Bloomsbury