Sip Meaning

/sɪp/
B2

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Listen pronunciation

nounA small mouthful of drink.

nounAn event at which people drink alcohol in small, usually subintoxicating amounts.

I had to sip the coffee because it was too hot.
Tom took a sip of coffee.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She decided to ____ her hot tea carefully because it was too hot to drink quickly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Take a small ____ of the hot tea to see if it is still too hot to drink.

Inherited from Middle English sippen, of uncertain origin. Compare with Low German sippen (“to sip”). Possibly from a variant of Middle English suppen (“to drink, sip”) (see sup) or perhaps from Old English sipian, sypian (“to take in moisture, soak, macerate”), from Proto-Germanic *sipōną (“to drip, trickle”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (“to pour out, trickle, leak out”). Compare also Old High German supfen (“to drink, sip”), from Proto-Germanic *sūpaną (“to sip, intake”).

"So order one more coffee / Have another sip of wine / We can go on talking / Until it's disco closing time" — 1977, The Originals, “Been Decided”, in Down to Love Town:
"Earl is always a good time. His appearance at parties, whether it's a smart cocktail sip or a basement gig, is mandatory." — 1985 April 20, Joseph Beam, “Black Men Loving Black Men: The Revolutionary Act of the Eighties”, in Gay Community News, page 5:
"He held out to me a bowl of steaming broth, that filled the room with a savour sweeter, ten thousand times, to me than every rose and lily of the world; yet would not let me drink it at a gulp, but made me sip it with a spoon like any baby." — [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, “In the Vault”, in Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC, pages 62–63:
"A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed." — 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food." — 2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
She decided to ____ her hot tea carefully because it was too hot to drink quickly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Take a small ____ of the hot tea to see if it is still too hot to drink.

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