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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004It would have pipped him a good deal ...
Hello: Wasn't able to get the exact meaning of "to pip" in this context: ----------- What had really smashed them up had been a perfectly common-place affair at Monte Carlo--an affair with a cosmopolitan harpy who passed for the mistress of a Russian Grand Duke. She exacted a twenty thousand pound pearl tiara from him as the price of her favours for a week or so. It would have PIPPED him a good deal to have found so much, and he was not in the ordinary way a gambler. He might, indeed, just have found the twenty thousand and the not slight charges of a week at an hotel with the fair creature. He must have been worth at that date five hundred thousand dollars and a little over. [The Good Soldier, By Ford Madox Ford, Ch. V, p. 56] ----------- Thank you for any suggestions. Marius Hancu "Marius Hancu" <DO_NOT_USE@videotron.ca> wrote... > Wasn't able to get the exact meaning of "to pip" in this context: > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > [The Good Soldier, By Ford Madox Ford, Ch. V, p. 56] > ----------- This transitive verb form of "pip" is presumably associated with a noun form which is still current -- to "give someone the pip" is to make him bad-tempered or dispirited, to annoy or irritate him. Matti > "Marius Hancu" <DO_NOT_USE@videotron.ca> wrote... >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Matti And 'pip', according to OED, is a disease found in birds, especially poultry. -- John Dean Oxford De-frag to reply > >> It would have PIPPED him a good deal to have found so > >> much, and he was not in the ordinary way a gambler. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > And 'pip', according to OED, is a disease found in birds, especially > poultry. Thanks to both of you. This was a tough one, some many meanings. I will settle for "to annoy" in the context. Marius Hancu > > >> It would have PIPPED him a good deal to have found so > > >> much, and he was not in the ordinary way a gambler. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Thanks to both of you. This was a tough one, some many meanings. > I will settle for "to annoy" in the context. I expect it originated as a euphemism for piss. Gary >>>> It would have PIPPED him a good deal to have found so >>>> much, and he was not in the ordinary way a gambler. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Marius Hancu BTW - I just noticed a possible literary pun. The reference to gambler summons up associations with cards (especially in the period Ford was writing) and 'pip' is another name for a mark indicating rank and suit on a card - so the three of hearts has three 'pips' shaped like hearts. -- John Dean Oxford De-frag to reply > >>>> It would have PIPPED him a good deal to have found so > >>>> much, and he was not in the ordinary way a gambler. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > writing) and 'pip' is another name for a mark indicating rank and suit on a > card - so the three of hearts has three 'pips' shaped like hearts. Well, this is a very resourceful little word, I guess:-)) A double pun might then be possible, adding to your last remark this definition of "pip" in Webster's (one of many): PIP: [Prob. variation of PEEP, to peep or chirp, as a young bird] to break through the shell (said of a hatching bird) ---- The character might have as much difficulty in coming up with the right combination, while gambling to win that kind of money, as a small chick would have to break through the egg shell, so much so, that he would be thoroughly annoyed while doing it. ---- Thank you. Marius Hancu |
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