clip Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a metal frame or container holding cartridges; can be inserted into an automatic gun
    magazine; cartridge holder; cartridge clip.
  2. noun an instance or single occasion for some event
    time.
    • this time he succeeded
    • he called four times
    • he could do ten at a clip
  3. noun any of various small fasteners used to hold loose articles together
  4. noun an article of jewelry that can be clipped onto a hat or dress
  5. noun the act of clipping or snipping
    snip; clipping.
  6. noun a sharp slanting blow
    • he gave me a clip on the ear
  7. verb sever or remove by pinching or snipping
    snip; nip; nip off; snip off.
    • nip off the flowers
  8. verb run at a moderately swift pace
    jog; trot.
  9. verb attach with a clip
    • clip the papers together
  10. verb cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of
    trim; prune; cut back; crop; snip; lop; dress.
    • dress the plants in the garden
  11. verb terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end or its full extent
    curtail; cut short.
    • My speech was cut short
    • Personal freedom is curtailed in many countries

WordNet

Clip transitive verb
Etymology
OE. cluppen, clippen, to embrace, AS. clyran to embrace, clasp; cf. OHG. kluft tongs, shears, Icel, klypa to pinch, squeeze, also OE. clippen to cut, shear, Dan. klippe to clip, cut, SW. & Icel. klippa.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Clipped ; present participle & verbal noun Clipping
Definitions
  1. To embrace, hence; to encompass.
    O . . . that Neptune's arms, who clippeth thee about, Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself. Shak.
  2. To cut off; as with shears or scissors; as, to clip the hair; to clip coin.
    Sentenced to have his ears clipped. Macaulay.
  3. To curtail; to cut short.
    All my reports go with the modest truth; No more nor clipped, but so. Shak.
    In London they clip their words after one manner about the court, another in the city, and a third in the suburbs. Swift.
Clip intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To move swiftly; -- usually with indefinite it.
    Straight flies as chek, and clips it down the wind. Dryden.
Clip noun
Definitions
  1. An embrace. Sir P. Sidney.
  2. A cutting; a shearing.
  3. The product of a single shearing of sheep; a season's crop of wool.
  4. A clasp or holder for letters, papers, etc.
  5. An embracing strap for holding parts together; the iron strap, with loop, at the ends of a whiffletree. Knight.
  6. (Far.) A projecting flange on the upper edge of a horseshoe, turned up so as to embrace the lower part of the hoof; -- called also toe clip and beak. Youatt.
  7. A blow or stroke with the hand; as, he hit him a clip. Colloq. U. S.

Webster 1913