Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a triviality, an irrelevance; a tiny amount.

1863		‘Edmund Kirke’ Life in Dixie’s Land 67: ‘Haint got nary a flip o’ change,’ she said, as she took it.
1892		H. Lawson ‘The Grog-an’-Grumble Steeplechase’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 216: Pat M’Durmer said he always came ‘widin a flip av winnin’’.
1999		R.G. Barrett Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] Isn’t it amazing how things can stuff up. Just because of one flip.

2. an impudent, flippant, ‘lightweight’ person.

1914		Sport (Adelaide) 12 June 4/2: They Say [...] That Pop B was seen taking his little flip for a preliminary over a wheat paddock .
1915		M.G. Hayden ‘Terms Of Disparagement’ in DN IV:iii 199: flip, a person loose in morals.
1919		F. Hurst ‘A Petal on the Current’ Humoresque 92: Is it any wonder the world is filled with little flips.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 28: Then some junior flip bitch ohdeed.
1979		D. Maitland Breaking Out 169: You are a bloody lop-eared [...] flip of a fucking galah!
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 39: The expression pootbutt — and its synonyms rootiepoot, rumpkin, rookie, wethead, junior flip — refers to a socially inexperienced person.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 89: I gave flip from the press a smack in the mouth.

3. (Aus.) an act of sexual intercourse.

1945		‘Cats on the Rooftops’ in Mess Songs & Rhymes of the RAAF 2: In Egypt’s sunny clime the crocodile / Gets a flip only once in a while.
1973		(con. 1940s–60s) Hogbotel & ffuckes ‘Cats on the Rooftops’ Snatches and Lays 26: [as 1945].

4. (US) an eccentric, a madman; also attrib.

1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 196: Before you were driving like a flip, and now you are creeping. [Ibid.] 359: Just frantic people, all of us. Just flips.
1961		R. Gover One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding 87: He ain no flip. He’s okay in the head so they gonna kill him in the lectrick chair!
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 243: Jimmy was trying to beat the rap by pulling a flip act.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 83: flip [...] 2. one who is out of his mind. Syn: flip artist (= a professional madman).
1979		D. Maitland Breaking Out 57: I’m down there listening to that mad flip [...] wondering if he’s all right in the bloody head.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 177: What do you expect, you flip? The waitress won’t serve you cause you’re pissed so you throw a drink over her.
1991		C. Hiaasen Native Tongue 250: The flip’s name is Francis Kingsbury.
1993		Smith & Noble Neddy (1998) 199: Most times it wasn’t my fault that a stink started. Mostly it would be some flip having a go at the way I dressed or jealous over the car I drove. [Ibid.] 285: I had to pull this flip into gear before he got right out of hand. ‘Listen to me, you halfwit, I don’t need anyone to stick up for me, especially to a dickhead like you.’.

5. (US) a state of high excitement, delight or craziness, esp. as produced by drug use.

1957		R. Prather Always Leave ’Em Dying 102: Trammel’s flipping Sunday at that Guardian meeting, and especially the timing of his flip immediately after I’d mentioned Dixon’s name.
1961		H. Ellison Rockabilly (1963) 130: The horde went wild, and behind him, in the dressing room, the little redhead did her own private flip.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 126: It’s his big flip. Giving reporters secrets about shows and people.
2000		Hip-Hop Connection Jan. 63: Somehow these cats retain the flip, immediate wit and observational flair of rap.