Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Anatomy Either of two fleshy folds that surround the opening of the mouth.
- noun A structure or part that encircles or bounds an orifice, as.
- noun Anatomy A labium.
- noun The margin of flesh around a wound.
- noun Either of the margins of the aperture of a gastropod shell.
- noun A rim, as of a vessel, bell, or crater.
- noun Botany One of the two divisions of a bilabiate corolla or calyx, as in the snapdragon, or the modified median petal of an orchid flower.
- noun The tip of a pouring spout, as on a pitcher.
- noun Slang Insolent talk.
- transitive verb To touch the lips to.
- transitive verb To kiss.
- transitive verb To utter.
- transitive verb To lap or splash against.
- transitive verb Sports To hit a golf ball so that it touches the edge of (the hole) without dropping in.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To touch with the lip or lips, as in kissing; reach with the lip or border.
- To utter with the lips; speak.
- To notch, as the edge of a sword or knife.
- In music, to apply one's lips to the mouthpiece of a metal wind-instrument so as to produce tones; also, to use one's lips in some particular manner: as, to
lip well or badly. - In machinery, to flange; turn over a lip on (a piece of sheet-metal).
- To lap; touch the edge of (anything) with a slight rippling sound.
- To project in the form of abroad tab or lip.
- To have an irregularity of the surface caused by overlapping of molds: said of a casting.
- noun In zoology: In the Blastoidea, one of the distal ends of the radial sinuses.
- noun In the Gastropoda, the outer or thickened inner margin of the aperture of the shell.
- noun In metallurgy, the part of a ladle or forehearth over which the metal flows.
- noun One of the two edges or borders of the mouth; one of the two fleshy or muscular parts composing the opening of the mouth in man and many other animals, and covering the teeth.
- noun plural Figuratively, the organs of speech as represented by the lips; speech or utterance as passing between the lips and aided by them.
- noun Impudent or abusive talk.
- noun Anything resembling a lip in position or relation; the edge or border of anything; a margin: as, the lip of a vessel; the lips of a wound.
- noun In botany: Either of the divisions of a bilabiate corolla.
- noun In orchids, one of the petals differing from the other two in shape. It is really the upper, but by a half-twist of the ovary has become as if anterior or lower.
- noun In zoology, any lip-like part or organ. See
labium and labrum for technical usages. - noun In a lip-auger, the blade at the end which cuts the chip after it has been circumscribed by the spur.
- noun In a turbine water-wheel, a rim which closes the joint between the barrel and the curb.
- noun In a vehicle, a projecting part of the bolster; a cuttoo-plate.
- noun In organ-building, one of the flat vertical surfaces above or below the mouth of a flue-pipe, called respectively the upper lip and the lower lip.
- noun In music, the power or facility of adjusting one's lips to the mouthpiece of a metal wind-instrument so as to produce tones; embouchure.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To touch with the lips; to put the lips to; hence, to kiss.
- transitive verb rare To utter; to speak.
- transitive verb obsolete To clip; to trim.
- noun One of the two fleshy folds which surround the orifice of the mouth in man and many other animals. In man the lips are organs of speech essential to certain articulations. Hence, by a figure they denote the mouth, or all the organs of speech, and sometimes speech itself.
- noun An edge of an opening; a thin projecting part of anything; a kind of short open spout.
- noun The sharp cutting edge on the end of an auger.
- noun One of the two opposite divisions of a labiate corolla.
- noun (Zoöl.) One of the edges of the aperture of a univalve shell.
- noun Slang Impudent or abusive talk.
- noun a pod auger. See
Auger . - noun comfort that is given with words only.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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A cleft lip (or hare lip) is an opening or gap in the upper lip, often connecting to the nostril.
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The drinking-horn goes round from shadowy lip to lip
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A lip -- _a lip_ -- and 'what a deal of scorn looks beautiful on it,' when once you get to see it.
The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded Delia Bacon 1835
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KING (on camera): Many social conservatives complain of what they call lip service from the candidates for president.
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KING (on camera): Many social conservatives complain of what they call lip service from the candidates for president but Senator Thompson tells CNN that over time he is sure he will convince them that a President Thompson will not push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage but also push aggressively to overturn the Supreme Court's landmark Roe versus Wade abortions rights decision.
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KING (on camera): Many social conservatives complain of what they call lip service from the candidates for president.
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Social conservatives for months have complained about what they call lip service from the Bush White House, congressional Republicans, and the leading GOP presidential hopefuls.
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Social conservatives for months have complained about what they call lip service from the Bush White House, congressional Republicans and the leading GOP presidential hopefuls.
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Social conservatives for months have complained about what they call lip service from the Bush White House, Congressional Republicans and the leading GOP presidential hopefuls.
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These Christian conservatives say their own heroes, George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, let them down, paid what they called lip service to their big issues and did not deliver in office.
hernesheir commented on the word lip
(n): in figure skating, a portmanteau of "lutz" and "flip", for an improperly executed flip jump, where the inside take-off edge is mistakenly changed to an outside edge, making it a lutz jump.
cf. flutz
January 16, 2009