rip
pronunciation
How to pronounce rip in British English:
UK [rɪp]
How to pronounce rip in American English:
US [rɪp]
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- Noun:
- a dissolute man in fashionable society
- an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart
- a stretch of turbulent water in a river or the sea caused by one current flowing into or across another current
- the act of rending or ripping or splitting something
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- Verb:
- tear or be torn violently
- move precipitously or violently
- cut (wood) along the grain
- criticize or abuse strongly and violently
Word Origin
- rip (v.)
- "tear apart," c. 1400, probably of North Sea Germanic origin (compare Flemish rippen "strip off roughly," Frisian rippe "to tear, rip") or else from a Scandinavian source (compare Swedish reppa, Danish rippe "to tear, rip"). In either case, from Proto-Germanic *rupjan-, from PIE root *reup-, *reub- "to snatch." Meaning "to slash open" is from 1570s. Related: Ripped; ripping. In garments we rip along the line at which they were sewed; we tear the texture of the cloth. ... Rend implies great force or violence. [Century Dictionary] Meaning "to move with slashing force" (1798) is the sense in let her rip, American English colloquial phrase attested from 1853. The noun is attested from 1711. The parachutist's rip cord (1911) originally was a device in ballooning to open a panel and release air.
- rip (n.1)
- "rough water," 1775, perhaps a special use of rip (v.). Originally of seas; application to rivers is from 1828.
- rip (n.2)
- "thing of little value," 1815, earlier "inferior or worn-out horse" (1778), perhaps altered from slang rep (1747) "man of loose character; vicious, reckless and worthless person," which itself is perhaps short for reprobate (n.).
Example
- 1. Astronomers have recently seen black holes in several other galaxies rip stars apart .
- 2. Another follows , pausing only to rip a branch from a tree .
- 3. Light meal a teaspoon of super-dense white dwarf star would rip through your stomach . Istock
- 4. If you resist he will bite down harder and start shaking his head from side to side in order to rip off as much flesh as possible-but probably not .
- 5. The 20-minute video posted on youtube shows the teenager lying on the floor , his body convulsing , as elders of a small connecticut church shout " rip it from his throat ! "