quip

English

Etymology

From a shortening of earlier quippy, perhaps from Latin quippe (“indeed”), ultimately quid (“what”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: kwĭp, IPA^(key): /kwɪp/, [kʰw̥ɪp]
• Rhymes: -ɪp

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

quip (plural quips)

1. A smart, sarcastic turn or jest; a taunt; a severe retort or comeback; a gibe.
   • 1645, John Milton, L'Allegro:

     Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles.

   • 1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Death of the Old Year”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:

     He was full of joke and jest, / But all his merry quips are o'er.

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     He wrote it down, remembering a quip of Pym's, paraphrased from Clemenceau: "Military intelligence has as much to do with intelligence as military music has to do with music.”

   • 2017 July 23, Brandon Nowalk, “The great game begins with a bang on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     Nobody could ever be bothered to imagine the Sand Snakes beyond personalized weaponry and fake-aggressive quips, none of which were very convincing, and now they don’t even register as dead weight.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:joke

Derived terms

• cryptoquip
• quipful

Translations

smart, sarcastic turn or jest

• Arabic: طعني
• Bulgarian: остроу́мие (bg) n (ostroúmie), би́сер (bg) m (bíser)
• Czech: vtípek (cs) m
• Dutch: kwinkslag (nl) m
• Finnish: sutkaus, sivallus
• French: pique (fr) f
• Georgian: ენამახვილობა (enamaxviloba), მოსწრებული სიტყვა (mosc̣rebuli siṭq̇va)
• German: geistreiche Bemerkung f, Witz (de) m, Witzelei (de) f, Stichelei (de) f, Erwiderung (de) f, Retourkutsche (de) f, Spöttelei (de) f
• Greek: σκώμμα (el) n (skómma), χαριτολόγημα (el) n (charitológima), πείραγμα (el) n (peíragma)
• Hungarian: beszólás (hu)
• Italian: freddura (it) f, battuta (it) f, frizzo (it) m
• Macedonian: досетка f (dosetka)
• Occitan: trufada, galejada (oc), escarni (oc), trach d'esperit
• Portuguese: chiste (pt) m
• Russian: ко́лкость (ru) f (kólkostʹ), остро́та (ru) f (ostróta)
• Serbo-Croatian: doskočica (sh) f
• Swedish: kvickhet (sv) c
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} వ్యంగ్యంగా చమత్కరించు (vyaṅgyaṅgā camatkariñcu) , ^{(please verify)} వెటకారం చేయు (veṭakāraṁ cēyu)
• Turkish: espri (tr)
• Ukrainian: саркастичне зауваження n (sarkastyčne zauvažennja)
• Urdu: طعنہ (taana)

Verb

quip (third-person singular simple present quips, present participle quipping, simple past and past participle quipped)

1. (intransitive) To make a quip.
   • 2012 June 3, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)”, in AV Club‎^[2]:

     In an eerily prescient bit, Kent Brockman laughingly quips that if seventy degree weather in the winter is the Gashouse Effect in action, he doesn’t mind one bit.

2. (transitive) To taunt; to treat with quips.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     the more he laughs, and does her closely quip

   • 1957, H. E. Bates, Death of a Huntsman:

     He did not really mind being quipped; the city gentlemen made him used to that sort of thing.

Translations

to make a quip

• Czech: vtípkovat
• Finnish: sutkauttaa
• French: blaguer (fr), plaisanter (fr)
• German: witzeln (de)
• Greek: σκώπτω (el) (skópto), χαριτολογώ (el) (charitologó), πειράζω (el) (peirázo)
• Russian: язви́ть (ru) (jazvítʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: našaliti se
• Spanish: ironizar (es)

Anagrams

• Puqi