lip

UK/lɪp/

lip noun: either of the two fleshy protrusions around the opening of the mouth. Also the clipping of lipstick.

Image: Saintswithin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

lip (countable and uncountable, plural lips)

(countable) Either of the two fleshy protrusions around the opening of the mouth.
- […]thine owne lippes teſtifie againſt thee.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 15:6, column 1
Synonyms:

labium
(countable) A part of the body that resembles a lip, such as the edge of a wound or the labia.
- […]I twiſted my thighs, ſqueezed, and compreſs’d the lips of that virgin-ſlit[…]1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, pages...
Synonyms:

labium
(broadly, countable) The projecting rim of an open container or a bell, etc.; a short open spout.
- The cork sails over the garden wall and lands somewhere no one can see it. A crest of white spills over the lip of the bottle and Niall pours the wine into Elaine's glass.2018, Sally Rooney, “Six Months Later (July 2013)”, in Normal People
Synonyms:

edge, rim, spout
(slang, uncountable) Backtalk; verbal impertinence.
- Don’t give me any lip!
- Kevin Sutherland: I've had enough of your lip!2008 May 1, Damon Beesley, Iain Morris, The Inbetweeners, I:ii: “Bunk Off”
Synonyms:

backchat, cheek, impudence, rudeness, insolence
The edge of a high spot of land.
- We landed at the head of Garden Island, which is situated near the middle of the river and on the lip of the Falls. On reaching that lip, and peering over the giddy height, the wondrous and unique character of the magnificent cascade at once burst upon us.1894, David Livingstone, “Chapter VII”, in A Popular Account of Dr Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries
- They toiled forward along a tiny path on the river’s lip. Suddenly it vanished. The bank was sheer red solid clay in front of them, sloping straight into the river.1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Passion”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part II, page 311
The sharp cutting edge on the end of an auger.
One of the two opposite divisions of a labiate corolla.
A distinctive lower-appearing of the three true petals of an orchid.
One of the edges of the aperture of a univalve shell.
(colloquial) Embouchure: the condition or strength of a wind instrumentalist's lips.

Verb

lip (third-person singular simple present lips, present participle lipping, simple past and past participle lipped or (obsolete) lipt)

(transitive) To touch or grasp with the lips; to kiss; to lap the lips against (something).
- […] a hand that Kings / Haue lipt, and trembled kiſſing.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- Our love was like the bright snow-flakes,
  Which melt before you pass,
  Or the bubble on the wine which breaks
  Before you lip the glass;1826 March, Winthrop Mackworth Praed, “Josephine”, in The New Monthly Magazine, volume 16, number 63, page 308
(figuratively, transitive) To touch lightly.
- He moved the boat onward very slowly, lipping the glossy surface delicately with the light oars.1971, Iris Murdoch, An Accidental Man, New York: Viking, page 405
(intransitive, transitive) To wash against a surface, lap.
- It was very soothing and restful up there on the saloon deck, with no sound but the gentle lipping of the water as it rippled against the sides of the steamer.1898, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 10, in The Tragedy of the Korosko, London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 324
- So on I went, and by my side, it seemed,
  Paced a great bull, kept from me by a brook
  Which lipped the grass about it as it streamed
  Over the flagroots that the grayling shook;1922, John Masefield, The Dream, London: Heinemann, page 9
(intransitive) To rise or flow up to or over the edge of something.
- Below, the swollen Eden, lipping full from bank to bank, rolled yellow and surly to the sea.1903, Robert Barr, Over the Border, London: Isbister, Book 4, Chapter 7, p. 375
- The rest of the herd were grouped so close to the water’s edge that from time to time a lazy, leaden-green swell would come lipping up and splash them.1911, Charles G. D. Roberts, “Mothers of the North”, in Neighbors Unknown, U.S. edition, New York: Macmillan, page 256
(transitive) To form the rim, edge or margin of something.
- […] old Macrae, of Adrfeulan Farm near by, had caused rude steps to be cut in the funnel-like hollow rising sheer up from the sloping ledge that lipped the chasm and reached the summit of the scaur.1894, Fiona Macleod, chapter 4, in Pharais, Derby, page 88
- It was a tiny stone house whose front window lipped the passing sidewalk where ever tramped the feet of black soldiers marching home.1920, W. E. B. Du Bois, Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil, New York: Harcourt, Brace & Howe, Chapter 9, p. 242
(transitive) To utter verbally.
- Salt tears were coming, when I heard my name / Most fondly lipp’d […]1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 48, lines 964–965
(transitive) To simulate speech by moving the lips without making any sound; to mouth.
- “Ah, I thought my memory didn’t deceive me!” he lipped silently.1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, chapter XIII, in The Woodlanders […], volume III, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 274
- And as he read, lipping the words, he thought of his own boyhood […]1980, Cyril Dabydeen, “Mammita’s Garden Cove”, in Caribbean New Wave: Contemporary Short Stories, London: Heinemann, published 1990, page 65
To make a golf ball hit the lip of the cup, without dropping in.
- “I shall find the ball to the left of a patch of sword grass near the hole,” he said. “My second will lip the hole, I know it as well as if I could see the whole thing.”1910 March, Fred M. White, “A Record Round”, in The Windsor Magazine
- Lambert just missed his three; his putt lipped the hole before finishing two feet past it.1999, J. M. Gregson, chapter 9, in Malice Aforethough, Sutton: Severn House, page 112
(transitive) To change the sound of (a musical note played on a wind instrument) by moving or tensing the lips.

Noun (2) capitalized: LIP

LIP (plural LIPs)

(abbreviation) Abbreviation of large igneous province.
(abbreviation) Abbreviation of litigant in person.

Also used as

lip is also the clipping of lipstick.

lip meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

lip in Hindi

fleshy protrusion framing the mouth: होंठ hõṭh, लब lab, ओष्ठ oṣṭh

lip in Tamil

fleshy protrusion framing the mouth: உதடு utaṭu, இதழ் itaḻ
part of body resembling a lip: இதழ் itaḻ
rim of an open container: விளிம்பு viḷimpu
to kiss: முத்தமிடு muttamiṭu, முத்து muttu

lip in Urdu

fleshy protrusion framing the mouth: ہونْٹ honṭ, لَب lab

lip in Bengali

fleshy protrusion framing the mouth: ঠোঁট ṭhō̃ṭ

More languagesFewer languages

lip in Telugu: పెదవి pedavi
lip in Malayalam: ചുണ്ട് cuṇṭŭ
lip in Punjabi: ਬੁੱਲ੍ਹ bullh, بُلّھ bullh, ہونْٹھ honṭh, لَبّ labb
lip in Gujarati: હોઠ hoṭh
lip in Odia: ଓଠ oṭha
lip in Sanskrit: ओष्ठ oṣṭha
lip in Sinhala: තොල tola
lip in Assamese: ওঁঠ ü̃th
lip in Nepali: ओठ oṭh
lip in Pashto: شنډه šǝnḍā
lip in Tagalog: labi
lip in Arabic: شَفَة šafa, شفة šiffa, شِفَّة šiffa, شَفَايِف šafāyif
lip in Malay: bibir
lip in Indonesian: bibir
lip in Persian: لَب lab
lip in Thai: โอษฐ์ òot, ริมฝีปาก rim-fǐi-bpàak
lip in Vietnamese: môi
lip in Myanmar: နှုတ်ခမ်း hnuthkam:

Examples of lip in a sentence

Once […] at dawn, I heard a bull-moose lipping tree-buds, and lay still in my blanket while the huge beast wandered past, crack! crash! and slop! slop!through the creek […]1901, Robert W. Chambers, chapter 9, in Cardigan, New York: Harper, published 1902, page 130:
[…] in a quick swirl the trout lipped a fly beneath the surface with that sort of gigantic delicacy of an elephant picking up a peanut.1929, William Faulkner, “June Second 1910”, in The Sound and the Fury, New York: Vintage, published 1956, page 144:
The mist that lipped against the wall behind him hung overhead like a ceiling, hiding any stars.2008, Julie Czerneda, Riders of the Storm, New York: Daw Books, Interlude, page 406:
The sun lipped over the mountain by now, shone on the corrugated-iron roofs of the five sanitary units, shone on the gray tents and on the swept ground of the streets between the tents.1939 April 14, John Steinbeck, chapter 22, in The Grapes of Wrath, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, page 311:

All 40 example sentences with lip

Synonyms of lip

All synonyms of lip

Forms of lip

Noun
plural	lips
plural	LIPs
Verb
third-person singular present	lips
present participle	lipping
past participle	lipped
past	lipped
past participle (obsolete)	lipt
past (obsolete)	lipt

Past tense of lip: lipped

Plural of lip: lips

Origin of lip

From Middle English lippe, from Old English lippa, lippe (“lip”), from Proto-West Germanic *lippjō (“lip”), from Proto-Germanic *lepô, from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang loosely, droop, sag”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Lippe (“lip”), West Frisian lippe (“lip”), Dutch lip (“lip”), German Lippe and Lefze (“lip”), Low German Lippe (“lip”), Luxembourgish Lëps (“lip”), Vilamovian łyp (“lip”), Yiddish ליפּ (lip, “lip”), Danish læbe (“lip”), Norwegian Bokmål leppe (“lip”), Norwegian Nynorsk leppa, leppe, lippa, lippe (“lip”), Swedish läpp (“lip”), Latin labium (“lip”).

Words formed from lip

Phrases with lip

74 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with lip

39 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about lip

What does lip mean?: Lip means either of the two fleshy protrusions around the opening of the mouth.
What is lip in Hindi?: Lip in Hindi is होंठ (hõṭh), लब (lab), ओष्ठ (oṣṭh). See Lip meaning in Hindi.
How do you use lip in a sentence?: Once […] at dawn, I heard a bull-moose lipping tree-buds, and lay still in my blanket while the huge beast wandered past, crack! crash! and slop! slop!through the creek […]
What part of speech is lip?: Lip can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce lip?: Lip is pronounced /lɪp/ (UK).
What is the plural of lip?: The plural of lip is lips.

Words near lip in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: lip (page history and authors); LIP (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-lip.ogg.

Cite this entry: “lip.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lip. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.