Word.ws English Dictionary

pips to the post

pips to the post is the third-person singular simple present indicative of pip to the post.

Meaning of pip to the post

Verb

pip to the post (third-person singular simple present pips to the post, present participle pipping to the post, simple past and past participle pipped to the post)

  1. (idiomatic) To overcome a strong competitor in a sporting event, especially by gaining a small advantage at the last decisive moment.
    • "Pipped to the post: What happens to famous athletes who just miss a place on the podium?" (end of the title) A place on the podium can be missed by tiny fractions – and finish a career. Simon Usborne talks to some famous Olympian losers about the moment their dream ended.2012 June 23, Simon Usborne, The Independent, article title
  2. (idiomatic) To overcome a prominent competitor, gaining their position, especially by making a smart, sudden move.
    • What may bar EastEnders from acceptance in the U.S. is not immorality but unintelligibility. PBS may even distribute a glossary of Cockney phrases so that Americans will know what a character means when he or she is "over the moon," "skint," "pipped to the post," or "in the club" (happy, broke...1988 January 4, A Soap That Stings, New York Magazine, page 14

Questions about pips to the post

What is pips to the post the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Pips to the post is the third-person singular simple present indicative of pip to the post.

Words near pips to the post in the dictionary

  1. piprinhydrinate
  2. piprites
  3. piprofurol
  4. pips
  5. pips at the post
  6. pips to the post
  7. pipsissewa
  8. pipsissewas
  9. pipsqueak
  10. pipsqueakery
  11. pipsqueaks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pips to the post (page history and authors); pip to the post (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.

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Cite this entry: “pips to the post.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pips_to_the_post. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.