▪ I. tippy-toe, n. (adv., a.)
(ˈtɪpɪtəʊ)
Also tippi-toe.
[Alteration of tiptoe, tip-toe n. (adv., a.): cf. -y6.]
A. n. pl. The tips of the toes. Usu. in phr. on (one's) tippy-toes. Occas. also as collect. sing.
| 1899 Century Mag. Nov. 47/2 The whole court now stood on its tippy-toes. 1965 New Statesman 3 Dec. 897/2 Illustrations..show the dear little mite standing on tippy-toe to feed famished and deserted nestlings. 1980 Dirt Bike Oct. 68/1, I stood on tippi-toes to watch. |
B. adv. Short for on tippy-toes (see sense A above).
| 1901 ‘Zack’ Dunstable Weir 216 The rocking stone stud tippy-toe above his girt shadder. 1975 R. Helms Tolkien's World iv. 126 A rather vulgar sugar-iced concoction, with a doll tippy-toe on its pinnacle as the Fairy Queen. |
C. adj. Standing or walking on tiptoe. Also fig.
| 1951 J. Steinbeck Log from ‘Sea of Cortez’ p. xli, Ed would be smiling and doing his tippy-toe mouse dance. 1968 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 8 Nov. 1/5 He [sc. Richard Nixon] is not as cautious and tippy-toe as he appeared to many voters. 1980 S. T. Haymon Death & Pregnant Virgin ix. 71 When Jack Ellers was excited he rose up on the balls of his feet... Now he came into the dreary room..all tippy-toe. |
▪ II. ˈtippy-toe, v.
Also tippie-toe.
[f. prec.]
intr. To go on tiptoe, to move lightly. Also fig. Cf. tiptoe v. 2.
| 1901 ‘Zack’ Dunstable Weir 232, I tippy-toed back to the fire. 1942 C. Morley Thorofare xxxvi. 169, I tippy-toed down one side to join the Confed'racy while my old man was pretending to look up the other. 1974 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 29 Oct. 6/6 Did he tippy-toe across the press? 1980 Daily Tel. 2 Sept. 11/2 The roly-poly little girl who tippy-toed through Sandy Wilson's enchanting ‘Big Best Shoes’ number in ‘Valmouth’ all those years ago. |
Hence ˈtippy-toed ppl. a. (in quot. as quasi-adv.).
| 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling iv. 31 A deer track'll prove the same. A deer or bear that's fat and heavy'll sink in that-a-way [at the heel]. A lettle ol' light doe or yearlin' 'll walk tippy-toed, and you'll not see more than the front of their hooves. |