Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. gypsy, usu. derog.

1881		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 7 June 7/6: I’ve had my supper [...] with the gips before now, and helped to eat a baked hedgehog.
1893		P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 91: She looked for all the world like a gippo, and she knew all the cant, and used to palarie thick to the slaveys.
1935		H.E. Bates Poacher (1944) 47: You gyppos keep clear of this state.
1945		(con. 1923) R. Westerby Mad in Pursuit 76: They said he was half gypsy, and indeed he had [...] a greeting and a crafty smile like any gyppo.
1958		D. Reeve Smoke in the Lanes 197: ‘Gyppo! Gyppo!’ some children screamed derisively from the safety of the school playground.
1958		C. Lee diary 20 Feb. in Eight Bells & Top Masts (2001) 61: The English and the Frogs had tried to capture the Suez Canal from the Gypos, who, he says, are all thieving blighters.
1959		A. Sinclair My Friend Judas (1963) 32: Joe the Gippo, trying to combine his wanderlust and urge for security by buying a caravan.
1964		P. Terson Night to Make the Angels Weep (1967) I x: Gyppoes. That’s what they are. Gyppoes. Bad blood the lot of ’em.
1965		L. Haylen Big Red 26: Didn’t like leaving our horses to the Gyppos.
1983		M. Read Scouting for Boys in Best Radio Plays (1984) 136: Gyppos can’t read.
1999		Guardian 20 Aug. 26: The country’s being swamped with fake gyppoes!!
1999		Indep. Rev. 30 Nov. 2: The ‘gypos’ went to Hitler’s concentration camps along with the ‘yids’ and the ‘poofs’.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 66: Colm’s arf Mick as well, fuckin gippo too. [Ibid.] 84: Ese two twats tryin t’act all heroic [...] an-a wrecked scruffy little gyppo like Colm is larfin in-a fuckin feyces.
2001		‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 25: Gyps don’t truck with outsiders for nothing.
2002		(con. 1910s) M. McGrath Silvertown 55: Let’s check on the mooches and the gyppos, says Dora.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 118: [S]ecurity cunts couldnae stop a rampagin young team meetin the gypos.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 807: [C]an look after himself as they say... touch of the tarbrush maybe... bit of a gyppo no mistaking.

2. an Egyptian.

1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1915		F. Garrett diary 23 Aug. 🌐 In my opinion the order to fire into them should have been given while the Gypos were using their sticks not after they have seemed to have cooled down.
1916		E.E. Jones diary 3 Dec. 🌐 Our first experience of Arabs and Gipos was funny.
1917		Hyde Park Barracks 1 Oct. 17: When by Gib. and by Suez and by Aden, / And the land where the Gippo drinks hops, / The steamers all heavily laden / To the land where the Kangaroo hops.
1918		Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 Aug. 6/3: These donks, of course, are handled by Gyppos, six or so per man, and appear to be a much more likeable set than the pestiferous, bubbling camels.
1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 344: Gypo. An Egyptian.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: gippo. A native of Egypt.
1927		Mercury (Hobart) 30 May 6/7: ‘No,’ he said, ‘they speak of English girls as “pommies,” just as they call Egyptians “gyppos,” Italians “steaka-da-oyst,” “Dagoes,” ”rocka-da-cod,” and Aussies “diggers”’.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 35: Shelves full of every kind of fag you could think of, Russians, and Turkeys, and Gippos.
1948		Bradford (Penn.) Era 16 Oct. 1/7: Who’s getting excited? The Gyppos (Israeli slang for Egyptians) couldn’t find Tel Aviv in the dark.
1959		A. Sinclair Breaking of Bumbo (1961) 91: All you’ve got to do with these tin-pot gyppos is show them a bit of the old jackboot. I know the wogs.
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 32: When it comes to fleecing you, the poms have got the edge on the flamin’ gippos.
1968		A. Buzo Norm and Ahmed (1973) 8: You see, they’re a cunning lot, those Gyppos.
1977		(con. 1940s) O. Manning Danger Tree 21: Not a bad fellow, your gyppo.

3. (US) contract work, a sub-contractor, a piece-worker [the implication is that the worker fulfils the contract then moves on, like a gypsy ].

1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 449: Gyppo, A piece worker. ‘A gyppo’s a goddam skunk what’s too goddam mean to join a union.’.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 94: gypo—A piece-worker [...] Coined by the I.W.W., the word illustrates the feeling held by many workers that if one works on piece-work he is cheating – ‘gypping’ – himself and others who might be employed did he not work so hard and fast a piece work basis.
1938		(con. c.1920) S.H. Holbrook Holy Old Mackinaw 218: Gyppo was any sort of work done by contract and was much frowned upon.
1970		R. Fabian Anatomy of Crime 193: Gyppo: Sub-contractor swindling victims with poor materials and equipment.

4. (UK juv.) an impoverished, badly dressed schoolchild.

2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 gippo n. [...] Poorly dressed, trashy kid (also making reference to someone who smells).
2005		H. Mantel Beyond Black 303: They shout, sod off, you filthy gyppo.