drip
/drɪp
/verb (drips, dripping, dripped) [no object]
1Let fall or be so wet as to shed small drops of liquid: the tap won’t stop dripping his hands were dripping with blood...
- When I got back to the car after doing my private business I noticed that the liquid had stopped dripping.
- His eyes were closed, jaw dropped, and his face dripping with soup.
- She had a look that spoke for nobody to come by and her entire outfit was dripping with some sort of liquid substance.
Synonyms
dribble, drop, leak
drop, dribble, trickle, drizzle, run, splash, sprinkle, plop, fall in drops;
leak, ooze, seep, exude, be discharged, emanate, issue
1.1 [with adverbial] (Of liquid) fall in small drops: water dripped from her clothing...
- Water droplets were dripping from the ends of his dirty blonde hair.
- I tried to stop laughing it was so funny, her hair was completely wet and there were droplets of water dripping down her nose.
- Even as he watched, a droplet of water dripped heavily down from a stalactite far overhead, landing in the pond with fat, lazy ripples.
1.2 [with object] Cause or allow (a liquid) to fall in small drops: the candle was dripping wax down one side...
- He dripped candle wax on the deck for traction and made his own leashes out of surgical tubing.
- For many years, he dripped oil onto the axle of the main pump, in the main pumping station.
- Candle wax is also dripped on the cuts and over various parts of the body.
1.3Display a copious amount or degree of a particular quality or thing: the women were dripping with gold and diamonds [with object]: his voice dripped sarcasm...
- The teacher's voice wasn't dripping with sarcasm or spite; in fact, the teacher had the best intentions at heart when he had said that aloud.
- My voice was dripping with sarcasm, however he didn't seem to notice.
- Her voice was dripping with not only sarcasm but something so much more lethal.
noun
1A small drop of a liquid: she put the bucket on top of the dresser to catch the drips...
- To make cleanup easier next time, line shelves and bins with small plastic trays or a double thickness of paper towels to catch drips.
- Don't forget a tray or saucer underneath to catch the drips.
- Its cleverness is in the way the handle is angled to suit the curves of a lavatory bowl, while the top of the holder is slightly dished to catch drips.
Synonyms
drop, dribble, bead, spot, trickle, splash, plop
1.1The action or sound of liquid falling steadily in small drops: the drip, drip, drip of the leak in the roof...
- Ayden listen and there was an annoying drip, drip, drip sound that echoed throughout the basement for what seemed forever.
- The drip, drip dripping sound of water echoed eerily, tensing her nerves.
- Everywhere sounded the drip of icewater, rubbing away at banded marble and rough limestone.
1.2 (also drip feed) Medicine An apparatus which passes fluid, nutrients, or drugs drop by drop into a patient’s body on a continuous basis, usually intravenously: he had been on a drip for several days...
- By the time my husband arrived 10 minutes later, he was already on oxygen, a fluid drip and intravenous antibiotics.
- He was taken to hospital for blood tests and given a course of antibiotics through a drip.
- It means ‘artificial nutrition and hydration’ - otherwise known as feeding through a tube, or hydrating through a drip in the arm.
2 informal A weak and ineffectual person: I hope that drip isn’t still pursuing you...
- I probably sound a bit of a drip, but I feel I'm in this permanent hallucinogenic state.
- He's a bore, he's a drip, he's a sneak.
- He's a drip, but he's very faithful, you know.
Synonyms
weakling, ninny, milksop, Milquetoast, namby-pamby, crybaby, pushover, softie, doormat, ineffective person;
bore, tiresome person
informal wimp, weed, sissy, pansy, nebbish
British informal wet, wally, big girl's blouse, chinless wonder
North American informal candy-ass, pantywaist, pussy, wuss
3 Architecture A projection on a moulding, channelled to prevent rain from running down the wall below. Compare with dripstone.Ms Tooth said in her statement that the remedial work carried out was the same as that for the residences, the installation of extension drips to the copings.
Origin
Old English dryppan, drȳpen, of Germanic origin; related to Danish dryppe, also to drop.
Drip is Old English but the slang use of the word to refer to a ‘feeble or dull person’, dates only from the middle of the 20th century. Drip had a variant drib, source of dribble (mid 16th century). The original sense was ‘shoot an arrow short or wide of its target’, also a sense of drib, which survives in the expression dribs and drabs (early 19th century). A driblet meaning ‘a small drop or stream of liquid’ dates from the late 16th century when it meant a ‘small sum of money’. Drop is related, and so is droop (Middle English).
Rhymes
- indemnify
- indemnity
- indemnity fund
- indemonstrable
- indene
- indent
- indentation
- indentation test
- indented
- indenter
- indention
- indentor
- indenture
- indentureship
- independence
- Independence Day
- Independence Hall
- independency
- independent
- independent assortment
- Independent Broadcasting Authority
- independent clause
- independent contractor
- Independent Labour Party
- independently