dipping
/ˈdɪpɪŋ/
dipping is the present participle and gerund of dip.
Noun
dipping (countable and uncountable, plural dippings)
- An act or process of immersing.
- […] it was ordeined, that children shuld be brought to the church, there to receiue baptisme in faire water, with thrée dippings into the same, in the name of the father, the sonne, and the Holie-ghost […]1587, Raphael Holinshed et al., “Henrie the second”, in The first and second volumes of Chronicles, page 82
- By an infinite number of materials, I mean colours and shades of all kinds and degrees; some notion of which variety may be formed by supposing a piece of white silk by several dippings gradually dyed to a black; and carrying it in like manner through the prime tints of yellow, red, and blue; and...1753, William Hogarth, chapter 13, in The Analysis of Beauty, London: for the author, page 110
- The act of inclining downward.
- The act of lifting or moving a liquid with a dipper, ladle, or the like.
- The process of cleaning or brightening sheet metal or metalware, especially brass, by dipping it in acids, etc.
- The use of dipping tobacco (moist snuff) in the mouth, usually between the lip and gum or cheek and gum in the lower or upper part of the mouth.
- The act or fact of missing out on seeing a bird.
- That same trip would have to go down as the greatest dipping fest in Australian birding history. I had five target species and never saw one, despite spending a week looking for them.2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 35
Meaning of dip
Verb
dip (third-person singular simple present dips, present participle dipping, simple past and past participle dipped)
- To lower into a liquid.
- Dip your biscuit into your tea.
- To immerse oneself; to become plunged in a liquid; to sink.
- The sun's rim dips; the stars rush out.1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC
- (of a value or rate) To decrease slightly.
- To lower a light's beam.
- Dip your lights as you meet an oncoming car.
- To lower (a flag), particularly a national ensign, to a partially hoisted position in order to render or to return a salute. While lowered, the flag is said to be “at the dip.” A flag being carried on a staff may be dipped by leaning it forward at an approximate angle of 45 degrees.
- The sailor rushed to the flag hoist to dip the flag in return.
- To treat cattle or sheep by immersion in chemical solution.
- The farmer is going to dip the cattle today.
Forms of dipping
| plural | dippings |
|---|
Words formed from dipping
Phrases with dipping
- dipping out
- dipping into
- dipping tanks
- dipping sauces
- dipping sticks
- double dipping
- dipping needles
- dipping a toe into
- dipping one's wick
- dipping one's toe in
- dipping one's finger in
- dipping one's toe in the water
1 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with dipping
Questions about dipping
- What does dipping mean?
- Dipping means an act or process of immersing.
- What is dipping the present participle and gerund of?
- Dipping is the present participle and gerund of dip.
- What part of speech is dipping?
- Dipping is a noun.
- How do you pronounce dipping?
- Dipping is pronounced /ˈdɪpɪŋ/.
- What is the plural of dipping?
- The plural of dipping is dippings.
Words near dipping in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dipping (page history and authors); dip (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-dipping.wav.
Cite this entry: “dipping.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dipping. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.