gypsy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Alternative form of Gypsy (“member of the Romani people”).

   He championed the music of the gypsies as he did the Muslim and Jewish roots of Spanish culture. […] All these and more were fused in the forge of the gypsy experience into a singular art form, unlike any of its sources, evoking its own worldview, its own existential stance.

2. 2
   noun

   An itinerant person or any person, not necessarily Romani; a tinker, a traveller or a carny.

   Like a right gypsy, hath, at fast and loose, Beguiled me to the very heart of loss.

3. 3
   verb

   To roam around the country like a gypsy.

   The rest of the day is spent out of doors "Gypsying", and families greatly enjoy themselves on these occasions.

4. 4
   verb

   To perform the gypsy step in contra dancing.

   Look at the person you're gypsying with, and convey the message that you notice them as a person and that you're glad that they're there, […]

5. 5
   name

   A female given name.

   "Why, good afternoon, Miss Gypsy," said Sir Simms; "I'm surprised to see you such a warm day — very much surprised. But you always were a remarkable young lady ..."

6. 6
   noun

   a laborer who moves from place to place as demanded by employment

7. 7
   noun

   A move in contra dancing in which two dancers walk in a circle around each other while maintaining eye contact (but not touching as in a swing). (Compare whole gyp, half gyp, and gypsy meltdown, in which this step precedes a swing.)

8. 8
   noun

   A member of a Broadway musical chorus line.

Etymology

A clipping of Gyptian (in Early Modern English roughly /ˈd͡ʒɪp.sɪ.æn/), itself an apheretic form of Egyptian, from Middle English Egipcian (“Egyptian”) (rarely Gypcian), from Old French egyptien, from Latin aegyptianus, from aegyptius (“Egypt”), because when Roma first appeared in England in the sixteenth century, they were wrongly believed to have come from Egypt. The Albanian evgjit, Greek γύφτος (gýftos), Italian gitano, Spanish gitano and Turkish Kıpti have the same origin. Doublet of Egyptian and Copt. The other major categories of words for the Roma are cognates of Rom (words related to…