whip

SpeakerListen:


Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
whip/wɪp/
noun
  • 1 a strip of leather or length of cord fastened to a handle, used for beating a person or urging on an animal.
  • 2 an official of a political party appointed to maintain parliamentary discipline among its members, especially so as to ensure attendance and voting in debates.

    Brit. a written notice from such an official requesting attendance for voting.

    ■ (the whip) Brit. membership of the group of MPs that form the official elected representation of a particular political party, together with the duties or rights associated with such membership.

  • 3 a dessert made from cream or eggs beaten into a light fluffy mass.
  • 5 a slender, unbranched shoot or plant.
  • 6 a rope-and-pulley hoisting apparatus.
verb (whips, whipping, whipped)
  • 1 beat with a whip.

    ■ (of a flexible object or rain or wind) strike or beat violently.

    ■ (whip someone up) deliberately excite or provoke someone.

    ■ (whip something up) stimulate a particular feeling in someone.

    informal defeat heavily in a sporting contest.

  • 2 move or take out fast or suddenly.

    ■ (whip something up) make or prepare something, especially food, very quickly.

  • 3 beat (cream, eggs, or other food) into a froth.
  • 4 Brit. informal steal.
  • 5 (whip in) Hunting act as whipper-in.
  • 6 bind with spirally wound twine.

    ■ sew or gather with overcast stitches.

  • 7 (as adj. whipped) N. Amer. informal worn out; exhausted.
– phrases
the whip hand a position of power or control.
– derivatives
whip-like adjective,
whipper noun,
whipping noun.
– origin ME: prob. from Mid. Low Ger. and MDu. wippen ‘swing, leap, dance’, from a Gmc base meaning ‘move quickly’.
'whip' also found in these Oxford entries:

Download free Android and iPhone apps

Android AppiPhone App
Report an inappropriate ad.