Also 6 kyppe, keippe, kepe, 7 kipp(e. [Of uncertain origin. Sense 2 corresponds to MDu. kip, kijp, pack or bundle, esp. of hides (see Verwijs and Verdam); but there is no direct evidence that sense 1 was developed from 2.
Hardly to be connected with Flem. kippe new-born or young calf, G. kippe ewe.]
1. The hide of a young or small beast (as a calf or lamb, or cattle of small breed), as used for leather.
1530. Palsgr., 236/1. Kyppe of lambe a furre [no Fr.].
1617. Nottingham Rec., IV. 353. A kipp to make a cover for the charter.
1776. Excise-book, in Dorset County Chron. (1881), 2 June. [Kinds of hides] sheep and lamb, butts and backs, calves and kips.
1852. Morfit, Tanning & Currying (1853), 146. Kips, consisting of the younger growth of the above animals [oxen, horses, cows, bulls, and buffaloes].
1875. Ure’s Dict. Arts, III. 24. The tanners call the skins of young animals kips. The skins of full-grown cattle of small breed are also so called.
a. 1882. Kendall, Poems (1886), 192. A hero in moleskin and kip.
2. A set or bundle of such hides, containing a definite number: see quots.
c. 1525. Northumbld. Househ. Bk. (1827), 355. ij Keippe and a half [of lamb skin] after xxx Skynnes in a Kepe.
1612. A. Horton, Concord. Yeares, 164. The skins of Goats are numbered by the Kippe, which is 50.
1674. Jeake, Arith. (1696), 67. Skins of Goats. In 1 Kippe, 50 Skins.
c. 1890. Correspondent, A kip of chamois skins is now 30.
3. attrib., as kip leather (used chiefly for the uppers of shoes), kip-skin.
1828. Craven Dial., Kip-leather, The tanned hide of a stirk.
1833. Act 3 & 4 Will. IV., c. 56. Calf Skins and Kip Skins, in the Hair, not tanned.
1844. Port Phillip Patriot, 25 July, 3/6. Half ton Hobart Town kip leather.
1891. Auckland (N. Z.) Star, 1 Oct., 1/4. A hundred gross of Kip Leather Laces.
