- 1[transitive] to put something quickly into a liquid and take it out again dip something (into something) He dipped the brush into the paint. dip something (in) Dip your hand in to see how hot the water is. The fruit had been dipped in chocolate. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverblightly, quickly prepositionin, into See full entry
- 2[intransitive, transitive] to go downwards or to a lower level; to make something do this synonym fall (+ adv./prep.) The sun dipped below the horizon. Sales for this quarter have dipped from 38.7 million to 33 million. The road dipped suddenly as we approached the town. dip something (+ adv./prep.) The plane dipped its wings. Wordfindertrendboom, decline, dip, fluctuate, level off/out, peak, plateau, plummet, slump, trend Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbslightly, sharply prepositionbelow See full entry See related entries: Trends
- 3[transitive] dip something (British English) if you dip your headlights when driving a car at night, you make the light from them point down so that other drivers do not have the light in their eyes See related entries: Driving
- 4[transitive] dip something when farmers dip animals, especially sheep, they put them in a bath of a liquid containing chemicals in order to kill insects, etc. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverblightly, quickly prepositionin, into See full entry Word OriginOld English dyppan, of Germanic origin; related to deep.Extra examples He dipped his finger in the water He dipped his head as he went through the doorway. His head dipped towards her. Quickly dip the tomatoes in boiling water. She dipped the brush lightly in the varnish. Support dipped sharply to 51%. The road dipped steeply down into the town. The sun was slowly dipping out of sight. hills which dip gently to the east when unemployment dips below a certain point He dipped the brush into the thick white paint.Idioms
dip
verbBrE BrE//dɪp//; NAmE NAmE//dɪp//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they dip BrE BrE//dɪp//; NAmE NAmE//dɪp//
he / she / it dips BrE BrE//dɪps//; NAmE NAmE//dɪps//
past simple dipped BrE BrE//dɪpt//; NAmE NAmE//dɪpt//
past participle dipped BrE BrE//dɪpt//; NAmE NAmE//dɪpt//
-ing form dipping BrE BrE//ˈdɪpɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//ˈdɪpɪŋ//
Trends, Driving(informal) to spend some of your own money on something She was forced to dip into her own pocket to pay for the repairs.
(informal) to start doing something very carefully to see if it will be successful or not We decided to dip a toe in the computer games market. Phrasal Verbsdip into
Check pronunciation: dip
