quip meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

quip

noun

/kwɪp/ · [kʰw̥ɪp]

Etymology From a shortening of earlier quippy, perhaps from Latin quippe (“indeed”), ultimately quid (“what”).

A smart, sarcastic turn or jest; a taunt; a severe retort or comeback; a gibe.

Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles.1645, John Milton, L'Allegro:
He was full of joke and jest, / But all his merry quips are o'er.1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Death of the Old Year”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:

2 more examples

He wrote it down, remembering a quip of Pym's, paraphrased from Clemenceau: "Military intelligence has as much to do with intelligence as military music has to do with music.”1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
Nobody could ever be bothered to imagine the Sand Snakes beyond personalized weaponry and fake-aggressive quips, none of which were very convincing, and now they don’t even register as dead weight.2017 July 23, Brandon Nowalk, “The great game begins with a bang on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club:

Synonyms: riff. See also Thesaurus:joke
Derived terms: counterquip, cryptoquip, quipful, quippery, quippet, quippish, quipsome, quipster

verb

Etymology From a shortening of earlier quippy, perhaps from Latin quippe (“indeed”), ultimately quid (“what”).

To make a quip.

In an eerily prescient bit, Kent Brockman laughingly quips that if seventy degree weather in the winter is the Gashouse Effect in action, he doesn’t mind one bit.2012 June 3, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)”, in AV Club:
Now, faults can be diagnosed remotely and (in many cases) fixed before the train even reaches the depot. "It's our version of Formula 1 telemetry," quips Hinze. "It is similar for us to how a pit crew in Formula 1 can understand an issue as the car is coming into the pits - because it has that data to hand already. You know what's wrong before it arrives."2025 July 23, Richard Wilcock, “A new dawn for the Electrostars”, in RAIL, number 1040, page 26:

To taunt; to mock with quips.

the more he laughs, and does her closely quip1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
He did not really mind being quipped; the city gentlemen made him used to that sort of thing.1957, H. E. Bates, Death of a Huntsman:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.