Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a blow.

1958

Willans & Searle Complete Molesworth (1985) 50: The plain blip for numskulls.

2. a temporary hiatus.

1999		Guardian Weekend 24 July 53: Once, I had a total blip and bought a piece of exercise equipment.
2000		Indep. Rev. 1 Feb. 7: There have, of course, been career blips.
2022		M. Haberman Confidence Man 284: He later blamed a blip in his memory for the oversight.

3. (US black) a cent, a nickel [fig. links the smallness of the sound and the coin].

1935		(con. late 1920s) L. Hughes Little Ham Act I: I bet two blips, if you was him, you’d be dead!
1944		C. Himes ‘Let Me at the Enemy’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 46: Aint got one white quarter not even a blip.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 22: Sometimes I never had a blip in my poke.
1959		W. Brown Teen-Age Mafia 14: They surrounded the jukebox [...] slipping a blip into the slot.

4. (US black) a surprise, a sudden disappointment.

1954		W.G. Smith South Street 98: Old ladies looking religious, staring at you like you was committing a sin; young women staring at Suzette like she was dirt; old men staring like I was violating their daughter; young cats staring like they want to shoot me. It’s a blip, man!’.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 62: Damn, that whole scene was a blip.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 116: Ain’t this a blip, a clean-cut looking guy like me with a record worse than all these bandidos.

5. (US) the flash of a light.

2023

(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 15: Headl;ight blips hit me [...] Parker’s point men in civilian cars.