whip

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a quick blow delivered with a whip or whiplike object

   The whip raised a red welt.

2. 2
   noun

   an instrument with a handle and a flexible lash that is used for whipping

   The whip was made of leather.

3. 3
   noun

   the flexibility of the shaft of a golf club

   My new clubs have a great whip.

4. 4
   noun

   a dessert made of sugar and stiffly beaten egg whites or cream and usually flavored with fruit

   I made a strawberry whip for my party.

5. 5
   noun

   a legislator appointed by the party to enforce discipline

   As the whip, I urge you to vote in favour of this measure.

6. 6
   verb

   to subject to harsh criticism

   The latest reviews whipped the new film.

7. 7
   verb

   to defeat thoroughly

   We whipped the opposing team.

8. 8
   verb

   to strike as if by whipping

   The curtain whipped my face.

Etymology

From Middle English whippen, wippen (“to flap violently”), from Middle Dutch wippen (“to swing, leap, dance, oscillate”) and Middle Low German wippen (“to move quickly”), from Proto-Germanic *wipjaną (“to move back and forth”). Some similarity to Sanskrit root वेप् (vep, “shake, flourish”), Latin vibrō (“to shake”). (See Swedish vippa and Danish vippe (“to shake”)). The unetymological wh- is probably expressive of the sound of a whip; compare the same development in whisk and onomatopoeias such as whack and whoosh. The political senses are from whipper-in (“huntsman who keeps the hounds from w…