drip

¹

[ drip ]

verb (used without object)

, dripped or dript, drip·ping.

1. to let drops fall; shed drops:

   This faucet drips.

2. to fall in drops, as a liquid.

   Synonyms: drizzle, sprinkle, leak, dribble, trickle

verb (used with object)

, dripped or dript, drip·ping.

1. to let fall in drops.

noun

1. an act of dripping.
2. liquid that drips.
3. the sound made by falling drops:

   the irritating drip of a faucet.

4. Slang. an unattractive, boring, or colorless person.
5. (in house painting) the accumulation of solidified drops of paint at the bottom of a painted surface.
6. Architecture, Building Trades. any device, as a molding, for shedding rainwater to keep it from running down a wall, falling onto the sill of an opening, etc.
7. a pipe for draining off condensed steam from a radiator, heat exchanger, etc.
8. Medicine/Medical. intravenous drip.
9. Slang. maudlin sentimentality.

DRIP

²

[ dee-ahr-ahy-pee, drip ]

abbreviation for

, Business, Finance.

1. dividend reinvestment plan: a program under which investors opt to have their dividends automatically applied to the purchase of more shares in the company, increasing their investment while avoiding commission charges.

drip

/ drɪp /

verb

1. to fall or let fall in drops

noun

1. the formation and falling of drops of liquid
2. the sound made by falling drops
3. architect a projection at the front lower edge of a sill or cornice designed to throw water clear of the wall below
4. informal.
   an inane, insipid person
5. med
   1. the usually intravenous drop-by-drop administration of a therapeutic solution, as of salt or sugar
   2. the solution administered
   3. the equipment used to administer a solution in this way

Other Words From

• non·drip adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of drip¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English dryppe, Old English dryppan; drop

Origin of drip²

First recorded in 1975–80

Word History and Origins

Origin of drip¹

Old English dryppan, from dropa drop

Example Sentences

“The candidates were able to control the relationship with legacy media, perhaps more than in previous cycles, by either going around them or controlling the drip of when they would give them interviews,” said Joshua Darr, senior researcher at Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship.

From Los Angeles Times

The news cycle delivers a steady drip of election information every hour, and it can be exhausting given that the U.S. campaign season has virtually encompassed the last two years, but Cytowic believes that all of this is manageable.

From Los Angeles Times

Intensive care consultant at Salisbury District Hospital, Dr Stephen Cockroft, said he was alerted to Yulia Skripal's sudden consciousness by a nurse and had to "clutch" Ms Skripal's hands to stop her tearing out a drip when she woke from a coma.

From BBC

“I do 70 burns a year, easy; this year I’ve done 75 since January, and had more than 250 landowners with a drip torch in their hand.”

From Salon

Costa took their advice and went to a hospital, where he received an intravenous drip to replenish his fluids.

From Los Angeles Times