rip

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To tear something quickly and roughly.

   My shirt ripped when it caught on a nail.

2. 2
   verb

   To pull something away forcefully.

   The wind ripped the umbrella out of my hands.

3. 3
   noun

   A torn hole or split in something.

   There was a big rip in my jeans.

4. 4
   verb

   To move very fast and violently.

   The tornado ripped along the coast, destroying houses.

From Middle English rippen, from earlier ryppen (“to pluck”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rupjaną, *ruppōną, intensive of *raupijaną, causative of Proto-Indo-European *roub- ~ *reub-, variant of *Hrewp- (“to break”). See also West Frisian rippe, ripje, roppe, ropje (“to rip”), Dutch dialectal rippen, Low German ruppen, German Low German röpen, German rupfen, also Old English rīpan, rīepan (“to plunder”), West Frisian rippe (“to rip, tear”), German raufen (“to rip”); also Albanian rrabe ‘maquis’, possibly Latin rubus (“bramble”). More at reave, rob.

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