Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see also under relevant n.

to warn, to inform.

1768		Gentleman’s Bottle-Companion 11: She tips the hint and he obeys.
c.1785		‘The Dog and Duck Rig’ in Holloway & Black I (1975) 79: Then tips you the hint at the gig.

1. to warn, to signal.

1861		Dickens Great Expectations (1992) 197: I tipped him several more [nods], and he was in great spirits.
1971		T. Lewis Plender [ebook] ‘Just wait a few more days and if she doesn’t turn up then tip the nod?’.
2008		‘John Le Carré Mission Song n.p.: I thought he might tip a nod to Philip, but he didn’t bother.

2. to recognize someone.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

to run off, to make an escape.

1712		‘Black Procession’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 39: The eighteenth a kid-napper, who spirits young men, / Tho’ he tips them a pike, they oft nap him again.
1869		‘Thief-Catcher’s Prophecy’ in W.H. Logan Pedlar’s Pack of Ballads 143: [as cit. 1712].

to hit hard, to knock out.

1819

‘One of the Fancy’ Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress 42: If settling Europe be the sport, / They’ll find I’m just the boy for that, / As tipping settlers is my forte!

(UK Und.) to raise the forefinger of the right hand to one’s nose as a sign of understanding.

c.1790

‘De Kilmainham Minit’ in Luke Caffrey’s Gost 7: Wid a Tip of de Slang* we repl’d, / And a Blinker dat Nobody noted [*footnote: The Singer at this Part is to put the Fore-finger of his Right Hand on his Nose].

(UK Und.) to give someone a blow, to punch.

1747

Life and Character of Moll King 12: I’ll tip her a Snitch about the Peeps and Nasous.

to hit hard, to knock out.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

to shake hands.

1834

Westmorland Gaz. 19 Apr. 1/3: Thank you your honour (extending his hand) tip us a squeeze, my hearty.

to tell a story.

1821–6

‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 192: Come, now let me see you tip him the yarn properly and politely.

to cheat, to deceive.

1850

Bell’s Life in Sydney 23 Feb. 3/1: Mr. Howland now commenced operations, and proved he [...] knew how to pull up short, work round the corners, and tip it on the raw.

to agree.

1885

‘’Arry on ’onesty’ in Punch 31 Jan. 60/1: I always did say wot one wants at the Play is fair yum-yum and larks, / And now ’ere’s the horacles tipping their ditto to ’Arry’s remarks.

to shake hands; usu. in phr. tip us your fin.

1837		‘Now!’ in Rum Ti Tum! in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 170: Vell, tip’s your fin, vi’ all my heart.
1841		J. Mills Old Eng. Gentleman (1847) 291: So tip us your fin.
1870		Perryburg Jrnl (OH) 6 May 4/1: When a sailor wishes to shake hands with you, he says ‘Tip us your fin’.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

to shake hands; usu. in phr. tip us your flipper.

1815		‘Timothy Tarpaulin’ Paddy Hew 55: Well, tip us your flipper, I am very glad to see you; how did you leave Conyers?
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 415: Tip us your flipper* [* Tip us your flipper — your mawley — your daddle, or your thieving hook, are terms made use of as occasions may suit the company in which they are introduced, to signify a desire to shake hands].
1843		W.L. Rede Our Village III iv: Tip us your flipper!
1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 18 Feb. 2/4: Tip us your flipper, old boy.
1844		Cork Examiner 14 June 2/6: Well, you’re a damned honest fellow. Tip us your flipper.
1847		Bell’s Life in Sydney 13 Feb. 2/3: The aspirants had peeled, and presently having tipped the flipper were ready for the 1st Round.
1863		Dundee, Perth & Cupar Advertiser 26 June 6/5: ‘Tip us your flipper, old covey,’ sez I.
1871		Manchester Eve. News 3 May 4/5: You, my jolly tar, tip us your flipper.
1884		‘’Arry at a Political Pic-Nic’ in Punch 11 Oct. 180/1: Old Bottleblue tipped me his flipper.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Sept. 9/3: The Australian [...] said: ‘How you vas? It been long time, hey, sin’ you vas come down to der big schmoke mit der missus. Yearmans peoples is joost mine sort. Tip us your flipper, old stocking.’ The Prince tipped it – but not quite in the manner expected.
1892		Manchester Courier 25 June 14/5: What cheer, messmate? Tip us your flipper, my hearty.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Sept. 13/4: When he visited Bendigo in ’53 an ex-man-o’-war’s-man in digger’s garb went up to him and roared ‘Tip us yer flipper, old boy – shake!’ His Ex. shook, but the starch in his collar crackled audibly.
1907		D. Stewart Shadows of the Night in Illus. Police News 20 July 12/3: ‘Tip us your flipper, put away yer toasting-iron, and let’s be chums’.
1914		Lichfield Mercury 11 Dec. 3/2: Come, tip us your flipper, old fellow.

1. (also tip one’s fist, ...mauley, ...mauns, ...mawley) to shake hands.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum n.p.: Mawley. A hand. Tip us your mawley; shake hands. with me.
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 133: So tip us your mauley, and no more blarney.
1836		Leeds Intelligencer 23 Apr. n.p.: Come tip us your ‘mawley’ — no gammon, dear Dan.
1838		Comic Almanack Apr. 132: So tip your mauns afore we parts, don’t blear your eyes and nose, / Another grip, my jolly hearts – here’s luck, and off we goes!
1844		C. Selby London By Night I i: Tip us your fist. I see you are not too proud to shake hands with an old pal who has seen better days.
1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. IV 46: ’Ello! Uncle Tommy! [...] tip us your mauley, my cove!
1848		G.W.M. Reynolds Mysteries of London II (2nd Ser.) 31: Chubbley, my boy, tip us your fist; and I’m your man for a Helder too.
1871		Morn. Post 27 Dec. 2/5: Stand a drink and kum tip us yer mauley Mary Hann’.
1950		B. Spicer Blues for the Prince (1989) 206: I tipped my mitt to Owens and dropped into a chair.

2. (US, also tip one’s duke, ...hand) to disclose one’s plans inadvertently; to inform.

1896		F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 156: ‘[A] few more gazabos [...] tipped deir mitt ’bout wot dey’d do if a play come up dat was on de level’.
1907		D. Runyon ‘Fat Fallon’ in From First to Last (1954) 36: I forgot all about tipping our hand to the gugus.
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 204: Say! he’s liable to tip my mitt to Banana, ain’t he?
1915		Van Loan ‘On Account of a Lady’ in Taking the Count 124: He tipped his mitt de minute he took off his dicer.
1918		Jackson Dly News (MS) 1 Apr. 7/1: Crook Chatter [...] ‘I’d like to know who turned “copper” and “tipped his mitt”’ .
1925		D. Hammett ‘The Scorched Face’ Story Omnibus (1966) 78: Even a carefully planned pretext is as likely as not to tip your mitt when you’re up against a blind game.
1934		V.G. Burns Female Convict (1960) 116: This girl was a spy, and I had tipped my hand.
1940		S. Longstreet Decade 317: Twenty grand on his nose if you tip your mitt to the dicks.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 17: No other cops tip their mitts until they’ve made their collars, but Halley and Kefauver telegraphed their punches.
1952		H. McCoy Corruption City 20: You’ll tip your hand if you play it too strong.
1969		D. Pendleton Executioner (1973) 101: No sense in tipping our hand before we have to.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 90: Did you want me to bumper-lock him? You wanted me to tip our mitt, maybe?
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 110: If they tipped their duke they’d be finished for good.

3. (US black) in fig. use, to reveal itself.

1938

Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 6 Aug. 11/1: I was cutting down the midway brought to my deuce of benders because ole sol was tipping his mitt on a deuce of sides of the midway.

to leave, to depart.

1820		Jack Randall’s Diary 31: None will lament Mr. Randall’s tipping his rags a gallop from the Poetic ring.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 33: Tip your rags a gallop – to bolt, run away.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].
1853		Dickens ‘Slang’ in Household Words 24 Sept. 75/2: To go or run away is [...] to be off, to vanish, and to tip your rags a gallop.
1853		R.S. Surtees Mr Sponge’s Sporting Tour 254: Cut your stick!—be off!—make yourself scarce!—give your rags a gallop.

(UK Und.) to use sleight of hand to pass over a fake.

1738

Ordinary of Newgate Account 8 Nov. 🌐 He seal’d it up, and by Slight of Hand – tipp’d her a queer one, – done up in the same Manner in its Stead.

(Aus.) to advise someone to their advantage.

1998

R.G. Barrett Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] I’m going to tip you into something.

to cheat, to deceive.

1821

‘A Real Paddy’ Real Life in Ireland 121: He was one night engaged to play for a serious sum, and conceiving that the Marker had tipp’d him the fling, he hurled one of the balls at his head.

see give someone/something the go-by under go-by n.

(UK Und.) to smile, to chat pleasantly.

1754

G. Stevens ‘A Cant Song’ Muses Delight 177: And away we went to the ken boozie. / As there we sat yaffling and sluicing our gobs, / She tipt me the gum very cleanly.

to warn someone.

1826		C.M. Westmacott Eng. Spy II 391: The very mention of which exploit induced our friend the governor to tip us the office.
1838		W.N. Glascock Land Sharks and Sea Gulls II 111: I thinks half a crown won’t be too much for keeping the coast clear outside, and tipping the office, if any busybody’s on the prowl.

to give a partner a venereal disease.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.

to jilt, to ‘chuck’.

c.1785

‘The Dog and Duck Rig’ in Holloway & Black I (1975) 79: Then tips you the turnips my knowing.

(Polari) to perform oral sex.

2019

P. Baker Fabulosa 298/2: tip the brandy, tongue the brandy, tip the ivy anilingus.

see drop the bucket on under drop v.¹

to tease, to banter with.

1829

‘Lag’s Lament’ (trans. of an untitled cant poem) in Vidocq (1829) IV 265: Thinking that I should jeer and laugh, / Although I never tips no chaff.

to go fast.

1821

W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry I vi: There’s action for you – there’s one to tip ’em the go-bye at a mill.

to shake hands.

1790

‘De Kilmainham Minit’ in Luke Caffrey’s Gost 5: When to see Luke’s last gig we agreed, / We tip’d him our Gripes in a Tangle.

(UK Und.) to have someone transported.

1760

‘Come All You Buffers Gay’ in Farmer Musa Pedestris (1896) 53: For if the cull should be down / And catch you a fileing his bag / Then at the Old Bailey you’re found, / And d—n you, he’ll tip you the lag.

to squeeze someone’s nose flat against their face and either poke their eyes with one’s extended fingers or place them in the person’s mouth, thus extending it.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

of a man, to have sexual intercourse.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

to pass a sentence of imprisonment on.

1791		H. Lemoine ‘Education’ in Attic Misc. 116: The knowing bench had tipp’d her buzer queer.
1824		‘Sonnets for the Fancy’ in Egan Boxiana III 622: [as 1791].

1. (also tip the lowyer) to spend money.

c.1698		B.E. New Dict. Canting Crew.
1741		Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 116: To give Money Tip the Lowyer.

2. to lend money.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.

see under scroby n.

1. to kiss with the tongue [this has subseq. been interpreted as cunnilingus, notably in Sarah Waters’ novel, Tipping the Velvet (1999), but other than in a single 1684 ref. to ‘kissing and tonguing’ the vagina, tonguing did not mean cunnilingus until c.1890].

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Velvet, a Tongue. Tip the Velvet, to Tongue a Woman.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) II [as cit. c.1698].
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1738		Man-Midwife Unmasqu’d 6: Pray explain, / And say what, by Tipping the Velvet you mean; / He put, Sir, his Tongue in my Mouth, she reply’d.
1754		G. Stevens ‘A Cant Song’ Muses Delight 177: I tipt her the velvet, her daylights she rolld.
1773		Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies 56: The only disagreeable thing which attends her, are her teeth, which for want of cleaning, become very often offensive, especially if a rampant young fellow happens to tip her the velvet.
1785		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: To tip the velvet; to put one’s tongue into a woman’s mouth. [Ibid.] to tongue a woman.
1787		Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies 83: Pouting lips [...] just leaving room for the velvet tip to dart its magic influence, and increase if possible the raptures of the Tree of Life in the most fertile field of bliss.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: To tip the velvet; tonguing woman.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1796].
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 182: The lads began to hang their nobs, and tip their frows the velvet.
1879		‘Sub-Umbra, or Sport among the She-noodles’ in Pearl 2 Aug. 1: ‘Annie! Oh! Annie!’ I gasped, ‘Give me the tip of your tongue, love.’ She tipped me the velvet without the slightest hesitation.
1881		Sins of Cities of Plain (1992) 127: We kissed and tipped each other the velvet with our tongues.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 28: Baiser a la florentine = ‘to tip the velvet.’.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 246/2: Tip the velvet (Crim. Classes). Kiss with the point of the tongue.
1916		H.N. Cary Sl. of Venery II.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 298/2: tip the velvet to give oral sex.

2. to tell off, to scold.

1823

‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 184: To ‘tip the velvet,’ to [...] scold.

3. to use flowery language in hopes of a seduction.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: tip the velvet to talk to a woman; to impose by flowery language.
1822		D. Carey Life in Paris 229: Dick [...] took care, ere he left her, in tipping her a little of the velvet.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

to warn.

1896

A. Morrison Child of the Jago (1982) 185: We won’t tip ’im the whistle this time.

see tip tommy under tommy! excl.

a phr. meaning give us the money.

1848

Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.