pip, v.¹ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

pip v.¹

[? fig. uses of SE pip, a spot on a die, card or domino]

1. to blackball.

1880		A.H. Huth Buckle I 252: If Buckle were pipped, they would do the same to every clergyman [F&H].
1892		‘The Topical-Political’ in ‘F. Anstey’ Mr Punch’s Model Music Hall 20: And what his little game is, he’ll let us perceive, / And he’ll pip the whole lot of ’em, so I believe.

2. (UK campus) to be fined.

1890

H. Fludyer Letters 9: I got pipped the day before yesterday for not wearing my cap and gown after dark.

3. (also pip off) to defeat, to beat.

1903		Sun. Times (Perth) 4 Jan. 4/7: When financially you’re pipped, / When your jewellry he’s nipped, / [...] / Swear off!
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Oct. 26/1: Olivaster appeared to tire, and Britain, coming with a very late run, pipped him for third place.
1930		L. Lower Here’s Luck 151: ‘Lots of favourites been getting pipped off lately’ .
1942		Whizzbang Comics 68: We pipped another Jerry U boat.
1964		Age (Melbourne) 8 Oct. 2/5: He showed Pirie and me a clean pair of heels most of the way. It took everything I had to ‘pip’ him at the tape.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 311: I [...] called up Smut and Bunt asking them to get a move on in case someone should now come and pip me by a bigger offer.
1987		(con. 1950s) G. Moloi My Life 186: We pulled off our overcoats, displayed our uniforms and exploded with ‘Communal Hall on Fire’. That was all it took to pip the Serenades.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 135: Too late. Iron Liege pips him by a short neck.
1999		Guardian Rev. 15 Oct. 10: A vicious bidding war that resulted in Fox pipping Warner Brothers for the rights.
2000		Guardian 6 Jan. 7: He pipped his old friend the late Ted Hughes.
2019		S. Bythell Confessions of a Bookseller 323: The Master and Margarita [is] an extraordinary book, the cleverest [...] use of the supernatural of any book I’ve read, although Hogg’s Justified Sinner might pip it at the post.

4. to fail (a candidate) in an examination.

1937–84

Partridge DSUE (1984) 888/1: [...] 1908.

5. to hit with a bullet, whether dead or wounded.

1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 224: Pipped, To Be: To be hit by a bullet.
1927		(con. WW1) P. MacDonald Patrol 212: ‘We pipped three the other night [...] That leaves three more’.
1937		‘Operator 1384’ Black Arab 249: ‘If I get pipped, or anything,’ I said to Latouche as I set off, ‘you must take full command’ .
1939		H.E. Bates My Uncle Silas 101: He’s sittin’ on the fence by the hovel. Pip ’im.
1944		P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: he got pipped . . . shot.

6. (W.I./US) to have sexual intercourse.

1968

A. Salkey Late Emancipation of Jerry Stover (1982) 229: Call her over and pip the life out of her, lover boy.