Green’s Dictionary of Slang

excellent, first-rate.

1848		J.R. Lowell Biglow Papers (1880) xxx: Our little craft [...] shall seem to leave port with a clipping breeze.
1850		Fast Man 7:1 n.p.: We have had a clipping dinner.
1854		Delhi Sketch Bk 1 Mar. 31/2: I noted down several of their devotional expressions [...] Bosh, Jolly, Larky, Muff, Spoony, Spicy, Nobby, Stunning, Clipping, &c.
1862		Thackeray Adventures of Philip (1899) 136: What clipping girls there were in that barouche!
1874		J. Greenwood Wilds of London (1881) 13: They prognosticated that it would be a ‘clippin’’ piece.
1875		Wagga Wagga Advertiser (NSW) 23 Oct. 4/2: I think it's a clipping idea, and I'm deuced sweet, on it myself.
1894		J. Astley Fifty Years (2nd edn) I 287: We got up a flat race for the Frenchmen which was clipping fun.
1899		R. Whiteing No. 5 John Street 52: Ain’t she a clippin’ gal?
1901		D. Cotsford Society Snapshots 265: She told me about the place and the people who were there [...] a clipping correspondent is la belle Marguerite.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 24 Feb. 3/5: A smart cabman with a clipping turn out could have been engaged.
1927		P. O’Donnell Islanders (1933) 131: The way ye clouted through them waves was clippin’.