hip

Meanings

Noun

• The outward-projecting parts of the pelvis and top of the femur and the overlying tissue.
• The inclined external angle formed by the intersection of two sloping roof planes.
• In a bridge truss, the place where an inclined end post meets the top chord.
• A drug addict, especially someone addicted to a narcotic like heroin.
• The fruit of a rose.

Verb

• To use one's hips to bump into someone.
• To throw (one's adversary) over one's hip ("cross-buttock").
• To dislocate or sprain the hip of, to fracture or injure the hip bone of (a quadruped) in such a manner as to produce a permanent depression of that side.
• To make with a hip or hips, as a roof.
• To inform, to make knowledgeable.

Adjective

• Aware, informed, up-to-date, trendy.

Related

Similar words

• cool, groovy

Origin

• From Middle English hipe, hupe, from Old English hype, from Proto-Germanic *hupiz (compare Dutch heup, Low German Huop, German Hüfte), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb- (compare Welsh cysgu ("to sleep"), Latin cubāre ("to lie"), Ancient Greek κύβος ("hollow in the hips"), Albanian sup ("shoulder"), Sanskrit शुप्ति ("shoulder")), from *ḱew-. More at high. The sense "drug addict" derives from addicts lying on their hips while using certain drugs such as opium.
• From Middle English hepe, heppe, hipe, from Old English hēope, from Proto-Germanic *heupǭ (compare Dutch joop, German Hiefe, Faroese hjúpa), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb- ("briar, thorn") (compare Old Prussian kaāubri ("thorn"), Lithuanian kaubre ("heap")).
• Unknown or disputed. Probably a variant of hep#Adjective; both forms are attested from the first decade of the 20th century. Some sources suggest derivation from Wolof hepi ("to see") or hipi.{{cite-book
• |first=Clarence
• |last=Major
• |year=1994
• |title=Juba to jive: a dictionary of African-American slang
• |page=234
• |pageurl=http://books.google.fr/books?hl=fr&id=4LNZAAAAMAAJ&q=wolof#search_anchor
• Others suggest connection to the noun, as opium smokers were said to lie on a hip#Etymology 1. Neither of these suggestions is widely accepted, however.