rip
/ɹɪp/ verb, noun, interjection, proper noun
Forms rips ripping ripped R.I.P.
- verb (transitive) To divide or separate the parts of (especially something flimsy, such as paper or fabric), by cutting or tearing; to tear off or out by violence. “to rip a garment; to rip up a floor”
- verb (intransitive) To tear apart; to rapidly become two parts. “My shirt ripped when it was caught on a bramble.”
- verb (transitive) To remove violently or wrongly. “A child untimely ripped from its parents' arms.”
- verb (transitive) To get by, or as if by, cutting or tearing.
- verb (intransitive, figurative) To move quickly and destructively. “The tornado ripped through northern Nebraska.”
- verb (woodworking) To cut wood along (parallel to) the grain.
- verb (transitive, slang, computing) To copy data from a CD, DVD, Internet stream, etc., to a hard drive, portable device, etc.
- verb (slang) To take a hit, dose or shot of a drug (such as marijuana) or alcohol. “He spent the day ripping shots at the bar and ripping blunts at home.”
- noun A tear (in paper, etc.).
- noun (Australia, New Zealand) A rip current: a strong outflow of surface water, away from the shore, that returns water from incoming waves.
- noun (chiefly in the plural) A tract of broken water (in a river or stream), particularly one which is not as rough as rapids.
- noun (slang) A comical, embarrassing, or hypocritical event or action.
- noun (slang) A hit (dose) of marijuana.
- noun (UK, Eton College) A black mark given for substandard schoolwork.
- noun (slang) Something unfairly expensive, a rip-off.
- noun (computing, slang) Data or audio copied from a CD, DVD, Internet stream, etc. to a hard drive, portable device, etc. “Some of these CD rips don't sound very good: what bitrate did you use?”
- noun (colloquial, regional, dated) A worthless horse; a nag.
- noun (colloquial, regional, dated) An immoral man; a rake, a scoundrel.
- noun (Scotland) A handful of unthreshed grain.
- interjection (informal, loosely, often ironic) Expressing disappointment at the fact that someone or something has come to an end or gone away. “RIP Vine. Only real ones remember.”
Synonyms
tear rake rakehell profligate blood roue rent snag split riptide tide rip crosscurrent countercurrent rend rive pull
Etymology
From Middle English rippen, from earlier ryppen (“to pluck”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rupjaną, *ruppōną, intensive of *raupijaną, causative of Proto-Indo-European *roub- ~ *reub-, variant of *Hrewp- (“to break”).
See also West Frisian rippe, ripje, roppe, ropje (“to rip”), Dutch dialectal rippen, Low German ruppen, German Low German röpen, German rupfen, also Old English rīpan, rīepan (“to plunder”), West Frisian rippe (“to rip, tear”), German raufen (“to rip”); also Albanian rrabe ‘maquis’, possibly Latin rubus (“bramble”). More at reave, rob.
Uncertain; perhaps a variant of rep (“reprobate”).
Learned borrowing from Latin RIP (requiescat in pace) and an initialism of rest in peace.
Originally coined in Selker et al. (1987) as an acronym for rearrangement induced premeiotically, which was later renamed repeat-induced point mutation in Cambareri et al. (1989).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A wicker fish basket.
- verb To divide or separate the parts of, by cutting or tearing; to tear or cut open or off; to tear off or out by violence; as, to rip a garment by cutting the stitches; to rip off the skin of a beast; to rip up a floor; --commonly used with up, open, off.
- verb To get by, or as by, cutting or tearing.
- noun A rent made by ripping, esp. by a seam giving way; a tear; a place torn; laceration.
Etymology [Cf. Icel. hrip a box or basket; perhaps akin to E. corb. Cf. Ripier.]
Etymology [Cf. AS. rypan, also Sw. repa to ripple flax, D. repelen, G. reffen, riffeln, and E. raff, raffle. Cf. Raff, Ripple of flax.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “rip”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details