gippo
noun/ˈd͡ʒɪpəʊ/
Etymology An alteration of gypsy, which is in turn an alteration of Egyptian.
- Every foreigner in Cairo’s piling into the trains[.] The gyppo porters are having a high old time at the station.1977, Olivia Manning, chapter 1, in The Danger Tree:
- He had his “dinner” in his canteen and placed it on the ground to go and “scrounge” a chunk of bread to help “fill up”, and as soon as he turned his back a dog walked in at the door of the barn, where we were “in residence” as they say “higher up”, [only we “flew no flag”], and started lapping up some of the “gippo”, [gravy] of which the said dinner was composed [in fact 'twas more “gippo” than dinner that day, so who could blame a dog for being mistaken].2006, George H. Coward, Coward's War:
- They were always asking for ‘more gippo’ (gravy) which we got for them if we could.2006, Mildred Joan Tulip, My experiences as a VAD nurse:
4
Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of gyppo logger.
- But even where the company does its own logging, the size of the timber enables it to use a modified form of the contract system, somewhat analogous to the sweatshop system in other industries and sinisterly named by the I.W.W., the "gyppo" system.1923, Edward B Mittelman, “The Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen: An Experiment in Industrial Relations”, in Journal of Political Economy, volume 31, number 3, page 316:
- Derived terms
- gyppo logger