whip

verb

/wɪp/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they whip	/wɪp/ /wɪp/
he / she / it whips	/wɪps/ /wɪps/
past simple whipped	/wɪpt/ /wɪpt/
past participle whipped	/wɪpt/ /wɪpt/
-ing form whipping	/ˈwɪpɪŋ/ /ˈwɪpɪŋ/

Phrasal Verbs

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[transitive] whip somebody/something to hit a person or an animal hard with a whip, as a punishment or to make them go faster or work harder
- He was taken back to the jail and soundly whipped.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- soundly
See full entry
[intransitive, transitive] to move, or make something move, quickly and suddenly or violently in a particular direction
- + adv./prep. A branch whipped across the car window.
- Her hair whipped around her face in the wind.
- whip something The waves were being whipped by 50 mile an hour winds.
Extra Examples
- At the sound of his name, he whipped round and glared at us.
- The wind whipped across the moors.
- The wind whipped her hair around her face.
[transitive] whip something + adv./prep. to remove or pull something quickly and suddenly
- She whipped the mask off her face.
- The man whipped out a knife.
Extra Examples
- She whipped the letter away from him.
- A gust of wind whipped off her hat.
- He whipped out a notebook and began scribbling furiously.
enlarge image

[transitive] to mix cream, etc. very quickly until it becomes stiff
- whip something Serve the pie with whipped cream.
- Lightly whip the egg whites and add them to the mixture.
- whip something up Whip the egg whites up into stiff peaks.
Topics Cooking and eatingc1
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- lightly
- up
See full entry
[transitive] whip somebody/something (North American English, informal) to defeat somebody very easily in a game
- The team whipped its opponents by 35 points.
- They whipped Australia 18–3 in the final game.
compare thrash
[transitive] whip something (British English, informal) to steal something

whip

noun

/wɪp/

Idioms

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[countable] a long, thin piece of rope or leather, attached to a handle, used for hitting animals or people, to make them move, or move faster, or as a punishment
- He cracked his whip and the horse leapt forward.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- riding
- bull
- horse
- …
verb + whip
- crack
- flick
- hold
- …
whip + verb
- crack
- come down
phrases
- the crack of a whip
See full entry
[countable] an official in a political party who is responsible for making sure that the party's MPs attend and vote in important debates in a parliament
- the chief whip
see also majority whipTopics Politicsc2
[countable] (British English) a written instruction telling the MPs of a political party how to vote on a particular issue see also three-line whip
the whip
[singular] (British English) the fact of being an MP belonging to a particular party, with the duties and rights associated with that
- He resigned the Tory whip and sat as an independent.
[uncountable, countable] a sweet dish made from cream, eggs, sugar and fruit mixed together

Word OriginMiddle English: probably from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch wippen ‘swing, leap, dance’, from a Germanic base meaning ‘move quickly’. The noun is partly from the verb, reinforced by Middle Low German wippe ‘quick movement’.

Idioms

crack the whip

to use your authority or power to make somebody work very hard, usually by treating them in a strict way

a fair crack of the whip

(British English, informal) a reasonable opportunity to show that you can do something
- I felt we weren't given a fair crack of the whip.

have/hold, etc. the whip hand (over somebody/something)

to be in a position where you have power or control over somebody/something
- She had the whip hand and it was useless to resist.