pip
part of speech
noun (a pip, pips); verb (pip, pips, pipped, pipping)
meaning for a pupil
1) A small seed in fruit such as an apple, orange, lemon or grape. tree →
2) A short high sound, like the time signal on the radio (the pips). tree →
3) A small spot or symbol, such as a dot on a dice or a star on an officer's uniform. tree →
4) (verb, UK, informal) To beat someone by a very small amount: pipped at the post. tree →
5) (UK, informal) Give someone the pip: annoy them. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons on plants a pip is a seed that can grow into a new plant. In maths dice problems, the pips are the dots. In sport and everyday British talk, someone was pipped to first place by a tiny margin. Phrases: pipped at the post, squeeze someone until the pips squeak.
examples
- Be careful, this orange has lots of pips. tree →
- We planted an apple pip in a pot. tree →
- The dice showed four pips. tree →
- Our team was pipped to the cup by one point. tree →
- Listen for the pips before the news. tree →
- Spit the grape pips into the bowl. tree →
- That noise really gives me the pip. tree →
note
Pip is used for small seeds; big ones are stones (peach) or pits (US). Past form pipped (double p). Also a name, as in Pip from Great Expectations.
In the corpora
- By the next morning, Pip's glad of the quiet.
- Seeds cannot grow in your stomach, which is dark, very acidic and has no soil; swallowed pips simply pass through.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «pip» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.