Forms: 3, 6–7 tippe, 5–6 typpe, typ, 7 tipp; 6– tip. [In 15th c. typ, typpe, the former = MLG., MDu., LG., Du., EFris. tip, MHG. zipf, Da., Norw. tip, Sw. tipp, all = ‘point, extreme end, very top.’ Not known in OE., ON., OS., or OHG.; but perhaps cognate with tip(p)en, TIP v.1, though the connection of sense is not clear. The modern cognate langs. have in the same sense a derivative form:—*tippul, MDu., Du., MLG., LG. tippel, MHG., Ger. zipfel.
(So far as is known, tip has no etymological connection with top; but the proximity of form and relative quality of sound in the two words have caused tip to be felt as denoting a thinner or more delicate top; cf. drip, drop, chip, chop, also TIP-TOP.)]
1. The slender extremity or top of a thing; esp. the pointed or rounded end of anything long and slender; the top, summit, apex, very end.
(The earlier existence of the sb. is evidenced by the derivs. tipping c. 1325, tipped or tipt and tip-toe c. 1386.)
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 494/2. Typpe, or lappe [MS. S. typ or lap] of the ere, pinnula. Ibid. Typ, of the nese.
1526. Tindale, Luke xvi. 24. Sende Lazarus that he maye depe the tippe off his fynger in water and cole my tonge.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Sam. xxiv. 4. Dauid stode vp, & cut of the typpe of Sauls garment quyetly.
1568. C. Watson, Polyb., 68. This hill … hauing a plain on ye very tippe, twelue miles in compasse.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 21. In typs of billows soom ships wyth danger ar hanging.
1613–6. W. Browne, Brit. Past., I. ii. 30. Where the Raine-bow in the Horizon Doth pitch her tips.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 8. The Pole-star … in the tip of the little Beares taile.
1753. Franklin, Lett., etc. Wks. 1840, VI. 179. That spout … was an inverted cone, with the tip or apex towards the sea.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 175. The tip of the horn is used by the makers of knife-handles.
1875. Darwin, Insectiv. Pl., xii. 280. Long narrow leaves gradually widening towards their lips. Ibid. (1881), in Life & Lett. (1887), I. 98. How many and what admirably well adapted movements the tip of a root possesses.
† b. fig. Utmost point, extremity; highest point, apex, crown. Obs. (Cf. also TIPE sb.1)
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 338. On oðer half, moni mon abit to schriuen him uort þe nede tippe. [But this may be TIP v.1 1.]
1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), 20. Not one amongst twenty wyll discouer, eyther declare there scelorous secretes: yet with fayre flatteringe wordes, money, and good chere, I haue attained to the typ by such as the meanest of them hath wandred these xiii. yeares.
1581. Rich, Farewell (Shaks. Soc.), 47. From the tippe and heeght of degnitie, you have not spared … to become a subject of all mishaps.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxxix. (1887), 220. The prince and soueraigne being the tippe of nobilitie.
1626. B. Jonson, Staple of N., II. v. He is … my Chiefe, the Point, Tip, Top, and Tuft of all our family.
† c. Old name for an anther, or summit of a stamen. Cf. APEX 6 a. Obs.
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants (1787), I. 133. Polycarpon. Allseed…. Chives 3. … Tips roundish.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., I. 619. Esteemed of old but tips and chives.
2. A small piece of metal, leather, etc., attached or fitted on to something so as to form a serviceable end; as the buckle of a girdle (obs.), a ferrule, the leather pad on the point of a billiard-cue, a protecting cap or plate for the toe of a shoe, etc.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 494/2. Typpe, of a gyrdylle, mordaculum.
1545. Rates of Customs, c viij. Typpes for hornes the C. IIII. d.
1570. Levins, Manip., 140/16. Ye Tippe of a staffe, ferretum.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, VI. xvi. There hung a horn beside the gate,… He took the ivory tip, And through the brazen-mouth he breath’d.
1873. Bennett & ‘Cavendish,’ Billiards, 9. About 1807 the leathern tip [of the cue] was invented.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Tip.… 3. (Shoemaking.) A protecting cap at the toe end of a shoe. 4. The nozzle of a gas-burner. 5. A ferrule; as the tip of a bayonet scabbard.
1878. Jevons, Prim. Pol. Econ., 15. The metal iridium … is wanted for making the tips of gold pens.
b. Costume. The end of a tail of fur, or of a feather, as used in trimming, etc.
1681. Lond. Gaz., No. 1649/8. A large Muff of Sable Tipps for a Woman.
1886. Cassell’s Encycl. Dict., Tip … 3. Millinery: The end of a feather in trimming.
1904. Daily News, 25 March, 7. Her hat was set at an alarming angle, and its nodding ‘tips’ followed her every movement.
c. Angling. The topmost joint of a fishing-rod.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., A tip made of split bamboo is called a quarter-section tip, and by English makers a rent and glued tip.
1895. Outing (U.S.), XXX. 431/1. Putting the bait tip on a ten-ounce split bamboo, I tied a spoon and a flight of swivels to the line.
d. Hat-making. The upper part of the crown of a hat; a stiff lining pasted in this part.
1864. Webster, Tip,… 5. The lining of the top of a hat;—so called among hatters.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Tip.… A circular piece of scale or paste board pasted on the inside of a hat crown to stiffen it.
3. A thin flat brush, made of camel’s or squirrel’s hair (originally the tip of a squirrel’s tail) fixed between two pieces of cardboard glued together, used for laying gold-leaf, as in bookbinding; also, a piece of wood covered with flannel, similarly used.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 801. The instruments used in gilding are the following: A cushion…. A knife…. The tip, which consists of a squirrel’s tail with the hairs cut short. It is used for taking up whole leaves of gold, and applying them to the surface to be gilt.
1837. Whittock, Bk. Trades (1842), 117 (Carver and Gilder). The brush with which the gold is applied to the work; this is called a tip, and is formed by putting a few fine hairs between two pieces of card.
1888. Arts & Crafts Catal., 85. Finally, the gold (gold leaf) is applied by a pad of cotton wool, or a flat thin brush called a ‘tip.’
4. a. A light horse-shoe, covering only the front half of the hoof. b. = FOOTHOLD 2.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 172. On turning horses out to grass, it is common to remove their heavy shoes, and furnish them with light ones, or tips as they are called.
1903. U.S. Dept. of Agr., Spec. Rep. Dis. Horse, 404. A shoe, called a ‘tip,’ is made by cutting off both branches at the center of the foot and drawing the ends down to an edge. The tapering of the branches should begin at the toe.
5. Phrases. a. From tip to toe: from top to bottom (more usually from top to toe: see TOP sb.). † b. In the tip of the mode: in the height of fashion (cf. 1 b). † c. Neither tip nor toe: not a particle or trace, none at all. d. On (or at) the tip of one’s tongue: on the point of being, or ready to be, spoken. So (rarely) at the tips of one’s fingers, ready to be performed or executed.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 520. There is neither tippe nor toe remaining in it [Leicester] of the name Ratæ.
1709. Brit. Apollo, II. No. 79. 2/2. She … will always be in the Tip of the Mode.
1722. De Foe, Moll Flanders (1840), 184. She had arguments at the tip of her tongue.
1823. Lockhart, Reg. Dalton, VIII. vii. Out with the word, man—it’s on the tip.
1833. Preston Chron., 21 Dec., 2/1. The soldier, eyeing his companion from tip to toe, eulogised his handsome shape, and thought he would look amazingly well in the dress of a Highlander.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxx. (1856), 263. I give in detail my dress…. Here it is, from tip to toe.
1859. W. Collins, Q. of Hearts, i. All the modern accomplishments at the tips of her delicate fingers.
6. attrib. and Comb., as tip-drip, -eared adj., -end (also fig.: cf. 1 b); tip-foot, a form of club-foot in which the heel is drawn up; tip-paper, a stiff kind of paper used for lining hat-crowns (cf. 2 d); tip-stretcher, an apparatus for stretching hat-crowns; tip-worm, the larva of a gall-fly (Cecidomyia vaccinii) which infests the buds of the American cranberry (Cent. Dict.).
1895. Mrs. Phelps, Chapters fr. Life, vi. 116. How dainty was the *tip-drip of the icicles from the big elm-bough.
1880. Mem. J. Legge, 258. Is man … the derivative of tailed and *tip-eared progenitors?
1680. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., x. 179. The *Tip-end of an Horn with its Tip downwards.
1803. Fessenden, Poet. Petition, 6. Discover’d worlds within the pale Of tip end of a tadpole’s tail.
1885. Century Mag., XXIX. 190/2. I mean to flirt with him to the very tip end of my powers.
1857. Dunglison, Med. Lex., s.v. Kyllosis, Talipes equinus,… *Tip-foot.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Tip-paper, a variety of paper of a rigid quality, made for lining the tips or insides of hat-crowns. Ibid., s.v., Eickemeyer’s power *tip-stretcher is shown in Fig. 6470.
