whip

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wɪp/, /hwɪp/^[1]

Etymology

Middle English wippen, whippen is not found in Old English;^[2][3] it is probably, like Middle Low German wippen, borrowed from Middle Dutch wippen (“to swing, leap”),^[4][5][6] from a Germanic base meaning “to move quickly”,^[4][5] which Watkins traces to a root meaning “to turn, vacillate, tremble”.^[2] Related words are Danish vippe, to swing up, and Middle High German wipfen, to jump.^[2][7] The OED thinks the senses of the noun and verb represent several separate adoptions or formations.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To flap violently, as with wings: before 1250, in The Owl and the Nightingale,^[3] the mid-13th century in Etymonline.^[2]

Semantic evolution

To strike or flog with a whip is from about 1386, in Chaucer,^[3] the late 14th century in Etymonline, together with to move something with a quick motion.^[2] Flogging led to the sense to defeat, overcome (1570s),^[2] and quick movement to the cookery sense, to beat cream or eggs (1670s).^[2] The noun, an instrument for flogging, is from about 1325,^[8] partly from the verb and partly from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German wippe, quick movement.^[2][5] In Parliament a whip, the official who makes sure party members attend and vote, is from 1828; it comes from the hunting whipper-in, who keeps the hounds from straying.^[2][6]

Timeline

• before 1250 – to flap violently.^[3]
• c. 1325 – a whip (noun).^[8]
• c. 1386 – to flog.^[3]
• 1570s – to defeat.^[2]
• 1670s – to whip cream.^[2]
• 1828 – a parliamentary whip.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A rod or a flexible lash on a handle, used for driving animals or for punishment.
2. A blow or stroke made with a whip.
3. An official of a political party who makes sure members attend and vote.
4. A dessert of whipped cream or egg whites.

Verb

1. To strike with repeated strokes, as with a strap or rod; to flog.
2. To pull or move with a sudden quick motion: to whip out a gun.
3. To beat cream or eggs into a froth.
4. (informal) To defeat thoroughly.

Word family

• whipper
• whiplike
• bullwhip
• horsewhip
• whiplash
• whipcord
• whippet
• whippy

Related words

• whip snake
• whipper-in
• wipe

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press