Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also gibe, gypsy, jip) to cheat, to deceive, to renege on one’s debts.

1880, , a.1889		Century Dict.
1900		Marshall W. Taylor Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World (1928) 145: It seems that they have not forgotten the little incident at the World’s Meet last year when he was ‘gypped’ out of a hard earned victory.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 41: gyp [...], to flim-flam; to cheat by means of guile and manual dexterity. [...] ‘Gyp this boob with a deuce.’.
1917		Van Loan ‘A Morning Workout’ in Old Man Curry 200: Sol’mun he never got jipped out of seven races in a row.
1919		H.C. Witwer Smile A Minute 67: I [...] got gyped outa twenty bucks.
1925		F.S. Fitzgerald Great Gatsby 42: We had over twelve hundred dollars when we started, but we got gypped out of it all in two days.
1926		Nebraska State Jrnl (Lincoln, NE) 10 Dec. 4/3: Not that we have escaped being jipped by professional jippers, and robbed betimes.
1931		Dan Burley Negro World 6 June 6/1: Having seen Jack Thompson gypped out of the decision [...] three weeks before .
1932		E. Hemingway letter 15 Apr. in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 358: Charles and I both bitter about how we were jipped out of the two jacks you painted in the backroom.
1935		Peters & Sklar Stevedore I iii: God damn, I told you dey gyp us out of two hours.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 5: Gibe it: Not to pay fine (or fare).
1941		N. Davis ‘Don’t Give Your Right Name’ in Goulart (1967) 16: He gypped me. He got Lily Trace’s signature and hopped it.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 133: jip To cheat; to swindle; to defraud.
1953		J. Thompson Savage Night (1991) 122: They said [...] I’d gypped her out of the station, paid her about half what the place was worth.
1955		D. Hitchens Sleep with Strangers (1983) [ebook] ‘She said my pigs were filthy and I was gypping people with penny prizes’.
1955		K. Amis letter 28 July in Leader (2000) 442: He gypped me of another 220 or alternatively £2.15 while I was looking.
1961		R. Gover One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding 85: If she jipped a couple of years, what difference.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 354: They got to be going to a white fish market, that’s gon be gypping them.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 130: The last dishonest thing I ever did was gypsy the dice in a crap game.
1971		(con. WWII) B. Aldiss Soldier Erect 30: Some of my mates were being jipped before we ever touched land.
1977		Rolling Stone 22 Sept. 44: If anyone complained about being gypped [...] he’d just point to the piece of hot dog he’d dropped in the sawdust.
1980		J.L. Gwaltney Drylongso 276: Pa, he’s gypping you.
1993		Tarantino & Avery Pulp Fiction [film script] 50: Now I’m the one getting gypped.
2000		C. Hiaasen Sick Puppy 285: Customers who believed they’d been gypped, deceived, baited, switched or otherwise butt-fucked.
2013		T. Dorsey Riptide Ultra-Glide 182: I’d be gypping you out of a free self-improvement lesson.

2. (also gip) to steal; to rob from.

1917		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 30 Apr. [synd. col.] In their parlance, they would —‘Gyp’ a man for $50 — that is beat him up.
1918		DN V 24: To gip [...] ‘to swipe’ something.
1930		E. Glyn Flirt and Flapper 66: Flapper: If you can’t get out of a jam you’ll be gypped [...] stung.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
a.1948		(con. early 1930s) C. McKay Harlem Glory (1990) 51: They were gypped so often [...] The women had their bags rifled and some of the men lost their expensive overcoats.

3. to disappoint.

1928		E. O’Neill in Bogard & Bryer Sel. Letters (1994) 312: I always found that men and women knew they could trust me so they never gypped my trust in them.
1931		Ade Old-Time Saloon 16: Why go to a lot of trouble in order to be gypped?

4. to play truant from school.

1970

E. Thompson Garden of Sand (1981) 207: So the very next time you gyp school, Dan Carrier’s going to come to get you. [Ibid.] 350: Two girls gypping school giggled in, silly with guilt and freedom.