Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A hippopotamus.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as hypo.
  • noun A colloquial abbreviation of hippopotamus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Same as hippopotamus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Short form of hippopotamus.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an ancient Numidian town in northwestern Africa adjoining present-day Annaba in northeastern Algeria
  • noun massive thick-skinned herbivorous animal living in or around rivers of tropical Africa

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The hippo is gently herded around and then into one of the rings.

    Vazquez Hermanos Circus 2006

  • The hippo is gently herded around and then into one of the rings.

    Vazquez Hermanos Circus 2006

  • COOPER: All right, I never thought I'd hear the word hippo mucus, but ...

    CNN Transcript May 27, 2004 2004

  • At first I thought this resembled a "hippo" - but the ears aren't right for a hippo they have little rounded upright ears - this animal has floppy ears.

    A Heart-Tugging Story from Stonehenge Jan 2008

  • At first I thought this resembled a "hippo" - but the ears aren't right for a hippo they have little rounded upright ears - this animal has floppy ears.

    Archive 2008-10-01 Jan 2008

  • - Kills the "hippo" - highest paid person opinion - noise that the old systems have

    broadstuff Mark Cheverton 2009

  • short answer in Greek hippo = horse in English hippo = fat African Marsh herbovoire e.g. hippo

    CIA interrogations: "tough enough"? Ann Althouse 2007

  • The kids tell me that the supervising adults are not attuned or even paying attention to those moments when they are rejected from a lunch table, being called a hippo in the hallway, or even when they eat their lunch in the bathroom in order to avoid being seen eating alone in the lunch room.

    Barbara Greenberg: School: A Great Place for Bullying Barbara Greenberg 2012

  • The kids tell me that the supervising adults are not attuned or even paying attention to those moments when they are rejected from a lunch table, being called a hippo in the hallway, or even when they eat their lunch in the bathroom in order to avoid being seen eating alone in the lunch room.

    Barbara Greenberg: School: A Great Place for Bullying Barbara Greenberg 2012

  • The kids tell me that the supervising adults are not attuned or even paying attention to those moments when they are rejected from a lunch table, being called a hippo in the hallway, or even when they eat their lunch in the bathroom in order to avoid being seen eating alone in the lunch room.

    Barbara Greenberg: School: A Great Place for Bullying Barbara Greenberg 2012

  • On a product I used to work on, the HiPPo (Highest Paid Person) in the room truly believed his ideas were genius and were the reason for all his business success.

    Ways To Prioritize — From Worst to Best Cláudia Delgado 2022

  • Their opinions are known as HIPPOs — the highest paid person’s opinion — and are often the deciding factor in what decisions and next steps a team takes.

    Velocity should be renamed “future tech debt” | Jeff Gothelf Jeff Gothelf 2021

Comments

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  • Short for hippopotamus, Weirdnet.

    June 15, 2009

  • srsly. do you know anyone who lives in a hippo?

    June 15, 2009

  • WeirdNet's referring to Hippo Regius.

    June 15, 2009

  • Overheard joke:

    What's the difference between a hippo and a Zippo?

    One's quite heavy, the other's a little lighter.

    February 3, 2024