Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a negative attack, e.g. via a piece of critical journalism.

1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 183: I have no interest in doing a rip job on General Motors.
2009		N.F. Keane Aluminium Showers 83: OK, come on in, but if you do a rip job on Kyle, you better find a good hiding place.

see separate entry.

(UK und.) thieves who gain entry to a house by removing the roof tiles and plundering the house in the owner’s absence.

1725

Life and Glorious Actions of [...] Jonathan Wilde 14: Ripping Coves are a Sort of House-breakers who make it their business to know when any Gentleman’s Family is gone or going into the Country, &c. and [...] come to the Roof of the House wherein they design to break, which they do by untiling and ripping the same.

see rip snorter n. (1)

(US black) to move restlessly, to act in an aimless but frenzied manner.

1894		J. London Tramp Diary in Jack London On the Road (1979) 34: We have decided to let the Reno crowd rip & start on as fast as possible for Ogden.
1965		H. Williamson Hustler 162: I left Callie’s place, and stayed away for about three weeks. Just out rippin’ and runnin’.
1973		M. Agar Ripping and Running 163: Ripping and Running – the life.
1985		O. Hawkins Chili 9: I vaguely see a swarm of children [...] rippin’ ’n runnin’ up ’n down.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 237: These niggers are rippin’ and runnin’ all over the country.
2004		Simon & Burns ‘Straight and True’ Wire ser. 3 ep. 5 [TV script] Out here every day rippin’ and runnin and ain’t got shit to show for it.
2010		R. Skloot Henrietta Lacks 242: ‘My son always out rippin and runnin them streets, drinkin and druggin just like his father’.

to lead a promiscuous sex-life.

1986

MC Lyte ‘I Cram to Understand U’ 🎵 I know you wanna shake me down / But I’m not one of the girls that go rippin around.

(US black) to copulate aggressively, sadistically, but with implication that both partners achieve mutual satisfaction.

1983

R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

1. to start a fight; to attack physically.

1930		W.R. Burnett Iron Man 104: Buddy Dugan, the little Chicago lightweight, would rip into him and get away without a scratch.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 70: You didn’t rip one in because last year [...] that bastard ripped one into you: you hit him first and on principle, to soften him up.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 93/1: rip into attack with fists or words.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 45: The many other terms for fighting give an idea of the importance of this activity in larrikin life. bump, comb down, dish, dong, tob, spike, sort out, stonker, rip into, do, go the knuckle on, weigh into, wipe and quilt.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

2. (also rip it off) to criticize harshly.

1927		(con. 1917) J. Stevens Mattock 213: He started to ripping it off until I lost control of myself and yelled: ‘You shut up about the first sergeant! The first sergeant’s a friend of mine’.
1953		J. Thompson Criminal (1993) 112: I was forced to rip into that Negro woman and [...] make her look like a liar.
1977		K. Gilbert Living Black 85: He ripped into this white audience [...] before this nobody had dared to tell them a few honest truths like this.
1988		see sense 1.
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 19: He’d rip into my ass about the length of my hair, my hoodlum pals, my grades, my wardrobe.
1993		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 121: No, no [...] I don’t want you to rip it into Renée.
2001		Week (US) 4 May 17: Some battle-ax of a teacher rips into the slowest kid in the class.

3. to do something energetically, enthusiastically.

1965		B. Crump ‘Scrapwaggon’ in Best of Barry Crump (1974) 191: Watcher [...] got out a bottle of dry sherry. He put it on the table. ‘Here, rip a bit of that into you.’.
1986		R.G. Barrett Godson 30: [T]he wine arrived; which they ripped into with great gusto.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 93/1: rip into attack with fists or words, often in positive fashion, such as aiming to move a pile of rubble.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 54: Come on you bloody fairy, rip into it.
2000		M. Collins Keepers of Truth 75: I’d ripped into my grandfather’s single malt whisky, the good shit he’d told us to stay out of.
2006		Age (Melbourne) 6 Jan. 🌐 Righto let’s go. Rip into them.

4. (Aus.) of a man, to have sexual intercourse.

1979

Lette & Carey Puberty Blues 28: The only time we had any chance of getting any affection or attention was at night when it was too dark to check out the tubes. Then he’d rip into you.

5. to consume (food or drink) voraciously.

1990		R.G. Barratt ‘Me Nude!’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] We ripped into this and scarcely had time to get roaring drunk.
2004		R.G. Barrett Rosa Marie’s Baby (2013) [ebook] ‘His food arrived [...] Les [...] ripped in. It was delicious’.
2015		I. Welsh Decent Ride 104: We’re rippin intae the ching n whisky.

1. to cause a commotion.

1856

Lewisburg Chron. (PA) 4 Jan. 7/3: They Endeavor next, with anger tearing, / To ‘rip it up’ by dint of swearing.

2. (Aus.) to penetrate sexually.

1945

‘Cats on the Rooftops’ in Mess Songs & Rhymes of the RAAF 2: Just rip it up the rectum of your oldest boy, / And you’ll revel in the joys of copulation.

3. to have a good time.

1956		Blackwell & Marascalco ‘Rip It Up’ 🎵 I’m gonna rock it up, I’m gonna rip it up, I’m gonna shake it up.
1981		J. Sullivan ‘Go West Young Man’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] I’m gonna paint the town red – rip it up a bit!
2000		F. Mac Anna Cartoon City 48: Champers lads? [...] Might as well rip it up tonight, what do you say?

see tear loose under tear v.

1. (US campus) to criticize (behind someone’s back), to nag.

1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 160: When those two get together they totally rip on Jeff.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 Rippin’. Mocking; telling jokes about.

2. (US black) to harass, to insult.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 119: He a righteous gorilla! [...] Rip on young ladies too. He crazy!

1. (Aus.) [of words] to let fly; to express vociferously.

1984

Benjamin & Pearl Limericks Down Under 52: The machine gave a cough / And then ripped this one off - / ‘You beaut! What a pity I’m neuter’.

2. (Aus.) to break wind.

2016

N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] [H]e ripped one off that would bring tears to your eyes.

(orig. US) to talk without restraint, to swear.

1868		H.L. Williams Black-Eyed Beauty 23: When a refined creature, like Belle was, rips out an oath, look out for squalls, if it was leveled at you.
1876		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer 271: ‘I’d got to talk so nice it wasn’t no comfort – I’d got to go up in the attic and rip out awhile, every day, to git a taste in my mouth.’.
1898		Western Mail (Perth) 11 Nov. 11/3: I may rip out sometimes when I’m angry, but I don’t interlard my ordinary conversation with obscenity.

see separate entries.

(N.Z.) a phr. describing a situation in which one forges on, irrespective of the consequences; also as adj.

c.1940		editiorial insert in DNZE (1998) 675/1: Rip, shit, or bust in freq. use in Marlborough for a violent, thoughtless approach to a job or problem. (Ed.) .
1956		T. Sutherland Green Kiwi 120: If anything breaks grab our standby truck and keep hauling. Its rip, tip or bust at this game [hauling road metal] and no please or thank you.
1981		J. Charles Black Billy Tea 49: Well get that old Buster [i.e. a wild boar] ! Rip, split or bust!
1986		Metro (Auckland) Sept. 48: He’d already picked a name-it would be Loosehead Len and he’d be a rightwing, rip shit and bust Kiwi bloke, opinionated about everything [DNZE].
1995		Listener (NZ) 1 Apr. 42: [They] have gone a long way towards changing public perceptions of shearers as ripshitorbust hard-drinking riffraff [DNZE].
2001		J.C. Winistorfer Shades of Bale 95: The most appealing plan was of the straightforward, rip, shit, or bust variety. He would merely load Pete Hooper’s shot gun, kick in the door to their room, blast them one barrel at a time [etc.].

see tear someone a new asshole v.

(US campus) to dance, thus rug-ripping, dancing.

1937		Duckett & Staple ‘Double Feature’ in N.Y. Age 10 July 7/2: [R]ug-rippings inspired by the oh-so-hard music of the master music-maker Erskine Hawkins.
1979		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 6: rip the rug – to dance.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 42: Alliteration marks [...] rip the rug ‘dance’.

1. (US Und.) to rob on a large scale.

1903		H. Hapgood Autobiog. of a Thief 80: I ripped up the fairs in every direction, and took every chance.
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 324: Rip up, To rob on an extensive scale.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 108: Somebody righteously thrashed old Omar’s pad the other day. Really ripped it up.

2. (also rip someone up) to abuse verbally, to tease.

1900		T.J. Hains Mr Trunnell Mate of the Ship ‘Pirate’ Ch. xiii: I never rips up a sailor for slack jaw aboard the Lord’s special appointed ship.
1967		(con. 1950s) McAleer & Dickson Unit Pride (1981) 292: When they began to talk to one another, they used English so I wouldn’t think they were ripping us up.

a general excl. of anger, surprise.

1895

H.B. Marriott-Watson in New Rev. 2 July n.p.: ‘Rip me,’ he says, starting up [F&H].