English
chippy
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˈtʃɪpi/
Noun

chippy (plural chippies)

  1. (British, slang) A fish-and-chip shop.
    • Tom smiled whilst nodding his head. “That′s me plan.”
  2. (British, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A carpenter.
  3. (Australia, slang) The youngest member of a team or group, normally someone whose voice has not yet deepened, talking like a chipmunk.
  4. (New Zealand) A potato chip.
  5. (US, slang) A prostitute or promiscuous woman.
  6. (demoscene, informal) A chiptune.
  7. (US) A chipping sparrow.
    • 1902, Henry Harrison Metcalf, John Norris McClintock, The Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire magazine devoted to history, biography, literature, and state progress, Volume 32, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=2bEVAAAAYAAJ&q=%22chippy%22|%22chippies%22+-intitle:%22chippy%22+-inauthor:%22%22&dq=%22chippy%22|%22chippies%22+-intitle:%22chippy%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oOAkT-b5COGhiAeCg9j2BA&redir_esc=y page 385],
      In due time a nest-full of little chippies appear to be nourished with insectiverous[sic] food from a parental beak until fledged and able to look after themselves.
      The funny part of it all is that the starling appears to make the chippies do whatever it pleases.
Synonyms Adjective

chippy (comparative chippier, superlative chippiest)

  1. (Canada, UK) Ill-tempered, disagreeable.
    • 1885, W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado, Act I
      To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,
      In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock,
      Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,
      From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!
    • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, Bloomsbury, 2005, Chapter 5,
      There was something so irksome about Barry Groom that he had a fascination: you longed for him to annoy you again. He was incredibly chippy, was that the thing?—all his longings came out as a kind of disdain for what he longed for.
  2. (Canada, sports) Involving violence or unfair play.
    • 2007, Canadian Interuniversity Sport, cisport.ca,
      The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns and University of Saskatchewan Huskies battled to a 1-1 draw in a chippy Canada West men’s soccer affair that saw the teams combine for 33 fouls and five yellow cards.
  3. (of wood) Tending to form chips when cut, rather than larger, more usable pieces of wood.
  4. (dated) As dry as a chip of wood.
  5. (archaic) Feeling sick from drinking alcohol; hung over.
Related terms
  • chippily
Verb

chippy (chippies, present participle chippying; past and past participle chippied)

  1. (slang) To take drugs (especially heroin) on an occasional basis, rather than as an addict. [from 20th c.]
    • 1974, Eric Josephson, ‎Eleanor Elizabeth Carroll, ‎Columbia University. School of Public Health and Administrative Medicine, Drug use: epidemiological and sociological approaches (page 110)
      The heroin user in the United States typically "chippies" for some time before becoming a regular user.
    • 1952, William S. Burroughs, in Harris (ed.), Letters 1945–59, Penguin 2009, p. 104:
      I chippy around but haven't been hooked in a year now.


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