Also dial. -et, -ut, tibbets. [From the phrase tip it = give or hand it out.] A game of chance, played by two parties of two or three a side; in one of the hands on one side a button or the like is hidden, and a player on the opposite side has to guess in which hand it is, touching the hand and saying tip it. (When played for money or drinks it is reckoned a form of gambling.)
1889. T. A. Guthrie, Pariah, IV. vi. A lively … pastime known as ‘Tibbets,’ which consisted in passing a paperweight from hand to hand under a table-cover, and guessing at a given moment in whose hand it was concealed.
1897. B’ham Daily Gaz., 28 Aug. (E.D.D.). Playing tip it for drinks.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 8 May, 7/3. The offence … was that a servant allowed some miners to play at the game of tippit for beer.
1908. Daily Chron., 5 March, 5/6. The skill of members at such games as tippit, darts, rings, and dominoes.
