What is "tip"

Tip \Tip\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tipped; p. pr. & vb. n. Tipping.] To form a point upon; to cover the tip, top, or end of; as, to tip anything with gold or silver.

With truncheon tipped with iron head.
--Hudibras.

Tipped with jet, Fair ermines spotless as the snows they press.
--Thomson.

Tip \Tip\, n. [Akin to D. & Dan. tip, LG. & Sw. tipp, G. zipfel, and probably to E. tap a plug, a pipe.]

1. The point or extremity of anything; a pointed or somewhat sharply rounded end; the end; as, the tip of the finger; the tip of a spear.

   To the very tip of the nose.
   --Shak.

2. An end piece or part; a piece, as a cap, nozzle, ferrule, or point, applied to the extreme end of anything; as, a tip for an umbrella, a shoe, a gas burner, etc.

3. (Hat Manuf.) A piece of stiffened lining pasted on the inside of a hat crown.

4. A thin, boarded brush made of camel's hair, used by gilders in lifting gold leaf.

5. Rubbish thrown from a quarry.

Tip \Tip\, v. t. [Cf. LG. tippen to tap, Sw. tippa, and E. tap to strike gently.]

1. To strike slightly; to tap.

   A third rogue tips me by the elbow.
   --Swift.

2. To bestow a gift, or douceur, upon; to give a present to; as, to tip a servant. [Colloq.]
   --Thackeray.

3. To lower one end of, or to throw upon the end; to tilt; as, to tip a cask; to tip a cart.

   To tip off, to pour out, as liquor.

   To tip over, to overturn.

   To tip the wink, to direct a wink; to give a hint or suggestion by, or as by, a wink. [Slang]
   --Pope.

   To tip up, to turn partly over by raising one end.

Tip \Tip\, v. i. To fall on, or incline to, one side.
--Bunyan.

To tip off, to fall off by tipping.

Tip \Tip\, n. [See Tip to strike slightly, and cf. Tap a slight blow.]

1. A light touch or blow; a tap.

2. A gift; a douceur; a fee. [Colloq.]

3. A hint, or secret intimation, as to the chances in a horse race, or the like. [Sporting Cant]

c.1300, "to knock down, overturn, topple, knock askew" (transitive), of uncertain origin, possibly from Scandinavian (compare Swedish tippa "to tip, dump"), or from a special use of tip (n.). Intransitive sense of "to fall over, be overturned" is from mid-15c. Related: Tipped; tipping. To tip the scales at "weigh (so much" is from 1879. Tipping point attested by 1972. To tip (one's) hand "reveal one's intentions" is from 1907, an image from poker-playing.

c.1400, "extreme end of something, top of something round or pointed, metal attachment to the end of something," from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch tip "utmost point, extremity, tip" (compare German zipfel, a diminutive formation); or from a Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse typpi).

c.1200, "to strike, occur suddenly," of uncertain origin, possibly from Low German tippen "to poke, touch lightly," related to Middle Low German tip "end, point," and thus connected to tip (n.); or else related to tap (v.1). Meaning "strike sharply but lightly" is from 1560s. Sports sense is from 1816, originally in cricket. Related: Tipped; tipping.

"a light, sharp blow or tap," mid-15c., from tip (v.3).

"put a tip on, adorn with a tip," late 14c., from tip (n.) or Old Norse typpa. Related: Tipped; tipping.

"give a small present of money to," c.1600, originally "to give, hand, pass," thieves' cant, perhaps from tip (v.3) "to tap." The meaning "give a gratuity to" is first attested 1706. The noun in this sense is from 1755; the noun meaning "piece of confidential information" is from 1845; and the verb in the sense "give private information to" is from 1883.\n

\nThe popularity of the tale of the word's supposed origin as an acronym in mid-18th century English taverns seems to be no older than Frederick W. Hackwood's 1909 book "Inns, Ales and Drinking Customs of Old England," where it was said to stand for To insure promptitude (in the form to insure promptness the anecdote is told from 1946). A reviewer of the book in the "Athenaeum" of Oct. 2, 1909, wrote, "We deprecate the careless repetition of popular etymologies such as the notion that "tip" originated from an abbreviated inscription on a box placed on the sideboard in old coaching-inns, the full meaning of which was "To Insure Promptitude." Also see here.

Etymology 1 n. The extreme end of something, especially when pointed; e.g. the sharp end of a pencil. (From 15th c.) vb. (context transitive English) To provide with a tip; to cover the tip of. (From 15th c.) Etymology 2

n. 1 (context skittles obsolete English) The knocking over of a skittle. (From 17th c.) 2 An act of tipping up or tilting. (From 19th c.) 3 (context UK Australia New Zealand English) An area or a place for dumping something, such as rubbish or refuse, as from a mine; a heap (''see tipple''); a dump. (From 19th c.) 4 (context UK Australia New Zealand by extension English) A recycling centre. 5 (context colloquial English) A very untidy place. (From 20th c.) 6 The act of deflecting with one's fingers, especially the fingertips vb. 1 (context transitive English) To knock over; to make fall down, to overturn. (From early 14th c.) 2 (context intransitive English) To fall over. (From earlier 16th c.) 3 (context intransitive English) To be, or come to be, in a tilted or sloping position; to become unbalanced. (From 17th c.) 4 (context transitive slang dated English) To drink. (From 18th c.) 5 (context transitive English) To dump (refuse). (From 19th c.) 6 (context US transitive English) To pour a libation, particularly from a forty of malt liquor. (From 20th c.) 7 (context transitive English) To deflect with one′s fingers, especially one′s fingertips Etymology 3

n. (context now rare English) A light blow or tap. (From later 16th c.) vb. (context now rare English) To hit quickly and lightly; to tap. (From later 15th c.) Etymology 4

n. A gratuity; a small amount of money left for a bartender, waiter, taxi driver or other servant as a token of appreciation. (From mid-18th c.) vb. To give a small gratuity to, especially to an employee of someone who provides a service. (From early 18th c.) Etymology 5

n. 1 A piece of private or secret information, especially imparted by someone with expert knowledge about sporting odds, business performance etc. (From mid-19th c.) 2 A piece of advice. vb. To give a piece of private information to; to inform (someone) of a clue, secret knowledge, etc. (From later 19th c.) Etymology 6

n. 1 (context AAVE English) A kick or phase; one's current habits or behaviour. 2 (context AAVE English) A particular arena or sphere of interest; a front.

1. n. the extreme end of something; especially something pointed

2. a relatively small amount of money given for services rendered (as by a waiter) [syn: gratuity, pourboire, baksheesh, bakshish, bakshis, backsheesh]

3. an indication of potential opportunity; "he got a tip on the stock market"; "a good lead for a job" [syn: lead, steer, confidential information, wind, hint]

4. a V shape; "the cannibal's teeth were filed to sharp points" [syn: point, peak]

5. the top point of a mountain or hill; "the view from the peak was magnificent"; "they clambered to the summit of Monadnock" [syn: peak, crown, crest, top, summit]

6. [also: tipping, tipped]

1. v. cause to tilt; "tip the screen upward"

2. mark with a tip; "tip the arrow with the small stone"

3. give a tip or gratuity to in return for a service, beyond the agreed-on compensation; "Remember to tip the waiter"; "fee the steward" [syn: fee, bung]

4. cause to topple or tumble by pushing [syn: topple, tumble]

5. to incline or bend from a vertical position; "She leaned over the banister" [syn: lean, tilt, slant, angle]

6. walk on one's toes [syn: tiptoe, tippytoe]

7. strike lightly; "He tapped me on the shoulder" [syn: tap]

8. give insider information or advise to; "He tipped off the police about the terrorist plot" [syn: tip off]

9. remove the tip from; "tip artichokes"

10. [also: tipping, tipped]

Tip may refer to:

Tip is the debut studio album by Canadian rock band Finger Eleven, after their first, Letters from Chutney, was released under their old name of Rainbow Butt Monkeys in 1995. The band was dropped from their record label in 1997, six weeks after the album was released in Canada. They were picked up by Wind-up and the album was re-released on September 15, 1998, to the U.S. and Canada.

Following the release of the album, drummer Rob Gommerman left the band. Rich Beddoe took his place in early 1998.

On October 1, 2014, the album received gold certification in Canada, having surpassed sales of 40,000 units in that country.

tip is a Unix utility for establishing a terminal connection to a remote system via a modem. It is commonly associated with BSD Unix, as well as other UNIX flavours such as Sun's Solaris. It was originally included with 4.2BSD.

Tip is referred to in the Solaris documentation as the preferred terminal emulator to connect to a Sun workstation's serial port for maintenance purposes, for example to configure the OpenPROM firmware. A reasonable freely-available equivalent is the cu utility from Taylor UUCP.

Tip is a public art work by American artist David Middlebrook, located in the Riverwest neighborhood north of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The sculpture was created for Gordon Park as part of a revitalization initiative.

A tip, in law enforcement, is a piece of information regarding a crime or other activity of interest to law enforcement, usually by a source outside of the law enforcement agency. A tip might provide law enforcement personnel with a direction to pursue in the investigation of a crime, and it might be made anonymously, or by a known source whom the recipient might have reason to trust or distrust. In United States law, by itself, a tip generally does not provide probable cause to make an arrest or perform a search of someone's property, but it may be a factor contributing to probable cause if corroborating evidence can be found.

Many law enforcement agencies maintain a tip line to enable citizens to report suspicious activities generally, or to provide information about a particular crime currently under investigation.