Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a stipendiary magistrate.

1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1884		North Eastern Ensign (Vic.) 15 Jan. 2/6: Benella Licensing Court 14th January (Before Mr M’Cormick, Stipe-Licensing Magistrate).
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1892		Morn. Post (London) 20 Feb. 6/2: At Cardiff Police-court [...] the Stipe [...] inflicted the maximum penalty of £100 upon John James.
1908		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘First in the Field’ Sporting Times 29 Feb. 1/3: ‘You’d chip in “among the girls,” I know!’ the sunny ‘stipe’ exclaimed.
1914		E. Wittmann ‘Clipped Words’ in DN IV:ii 134: stipe. A stipendary magistrate.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 3 Jan. 5/1: Of the stipe trio Mr Griffiths has been the odd man out.
1948		Argus (Melbourne) 26 Aug. 5/5: It will not be long before the Stipendiary magistrate will be known to a certain section of the community as a ‘stipe’ [...] The Bench will now comprise a ‘stipe’ and a couple of ‘beaks’.
2001		K. Waterhouse Soho 153: Could be six months, could be two years if the Stipe’s in a bad mood.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 133: Many queers would just adore to retrofit the rite of coming-up-before-the-bench, getting a talking to from the stipe.

2. (Aus.) a stipendiary racing steward.

1914		Dubbo & Macquarie Advertiser (NSW) 13 Mar. 2/7: A Wide-Awake Stipe [...] After a preliminary gallop the sipendiary steward [...] told [the rider] he knew he was roding a ‘dead ’un’.
1917		N.Z. Truth 26 May 7/6: A jockey informed a local stipe [...] that ‘his owner’ had banged him in the eye for winning a race.
1928		N.Z. Truth 9 Feb. 11/5: It was a classed as negligent riding [...] The outcome makes it certain that the new stipe knows a little about his business.
1938		Cairns Post (Qld) 24 Aug. 12/4: [headline] Alleged Bribery Charge Against ‘Stipe’.
1949		L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 163: You was going to do all sorts of things to us. Going to call in the stipes and everything.
1953		Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 8 July 12/7: Stipe resigns? [...] Mr. J.B. Donohoe, for many years chairman of the AJC stipendiary stewards has resigned.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 207: If me or the stipe run past you, go for the whip.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 37: ‘The stipes hit me pretty hard [...] I was out for nearly a year’.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 108/1: stipe stipendiary racecourse steward.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 200: ‘You blokes know the stipes hit me pretty hard last time’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].