pippin
(ˈpɪpɪn)
Forms: 4–6 pepyn(e, 4–7 pipin, 4–8 pepin, 5 pipyn, 5–6 pypyn(e, 6 peppin, pippyn, pyppen, 6– pippin, (6–8 pippen, -ing, 7 -ine).
[ME. a. OF. pepin (13th c.) seed of a fleshy fruit, mod.F. pepin, pépin pip; in Norm. dial. also seedling apple-tree: cf. sense 2. Cf. It. pippolo kernel, grape-stone. Origin obscure.
Connexion with L. pĕpo, -ŏnem, a. Gr. πέπων, -ονα ‘pumpkin’, is doubtful: in Sp. and Pg. pepino is ‘cucumber’, pepita ‘kernel or pip’, also ‘pip’ in fowls (pip n.1), which in Walloon is pepin. It. pipita is ‘sprout’ or ‘shoot’, and also ‘pip’ in fowls. The relations between these are obscure.]
1. a. The seed of certain fruits, including those now called pips, and others: cf. pip n.3 Obs. exc. north. dial.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1366 (Cott.) Pepins [so Gött.; Fairf. cornys; Trin. curnels] þen he gaue him thrin, Þe quilk a þe appel tre he nam. Ibid. 1417 Þe pipins war don vnder his tung, Þar ras o þam thre wandes yong. 1348–9 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 549 In duabus libr. de Resyns sanz pepyn. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxxxix. (Bodl. MS.), Huoles and pipyns leueþ whan þe wyne is clene wronge oute. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 401/2 Pypyne, of vyne, or grape.., acinus. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 166 Yf thou wyll haue many rooses..thou muste take the harde pepyns of the same rooses that bee right rype and sowe hem. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xlii. 712 In the middle of the fruite [pear] there is a coare with kernels or peppins. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 447 The inner stones or pepins, which in some grapes are but single, or one alone. 1613 [see 1 c]. 1764 E. Moxon Eng. Housew. (ed. 9) 155 Cut them [oranges] in quarters and take out all the pippens. 1828 Craven Gloss., Pippin, the seed of an apple. 1868 Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Pippin, the pip or seed of the apple and like fruits. |
† b. Applied to the germ of a pea, or the like.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 32 [Pesyn] wyl alle to-falle with a lytil boylynge, to pereye, saue þe whyte Pepyn is þer-in. |
† c. Rendering
Sp. pepita a grain of gold.
Obs.| 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. iv. 213 They finde little of this golde in pippin. Ibid., They call them pippins, for that commonly they are like to pippins or seeds of melons. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage viii. ii. 607 Their golde is found either in Graines which they call the Pippins because they are like..Seedes of Melons..or in powder. |
2. a. The name of numerous varieties of apple, raised from seed.
| c 1432 Lydg. On Entry of Hen. VI into London (MS. Harl. 565 lf. 121), Pypyns, quynces blaundrellys to disport And þe Pom cedre corageus to recomfort. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 605. 1530 Palsgr. 154 Names of frutes..as well generall as pomme, an apple, and póyre, a peare, as particuler, as carpendv, a pippyn; estrangvillon, a choke peare. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 120 The sower Crabbe..as well as the sweet Pippin. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. iii. 2 We will eate a last yeares Pippin of my owne graffing. 1629 Parkinson Paradisi 587 This is a pretty way to have Pippins, Pomewaters, or any other sorts of Apples growing low. 1676 Worlidge Cyder (1691) 202 Pippins..take their name from the small spots or pips that usually appear on the sides of the Apple. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. II. 253 The pippins..were so called because the trees were raised from pips or seeds. 1866 Treas. Bot. 945 Some [apples] of English origin have acquired almost universal celebrity; for instance, the Golden Pippin, Ribston Pippin,..Blenheim Pippin, etc.; and recently Cox's Orange Pippin has been brought into notice. |
b. In phrases, as
sound as a pippin, very sound.
| 1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 139/1 He's as sound as a pippin. 1910 Belloc Verses 81, I said to Heart, ‘How goes it?’ Heart replied: ‘Right as a Ribstone Pippin!’ But it lied. |
3. a. Applied to a person.
slang.| 1664 Cotton Scarron. iv. Wks. (1725) 95 Thou'rt a precious Pepin, To think to steal so slily from me. c 1821 ‘W. T. Moncrieff’ Tom & Jerry (1828) ii. v. 49 Go it, my pippins. 1846 Swell's Night Guide 49 Now, my pippins, I'll just ax you which was the rankest sell? 1885 Punch 3 Jan. 4/1 The Reform Bill won't do it, my Pippin. 1888 [see cocker n.6]. 1892 E. J. Milliken 'Arry Ballads 23/2 She would take the shine out of some screamers, I tell yer, my pippin, would Loo. 1895 Punch 15 June 285/1 No slow Surrey-siders, my pippin, but smart bits o' frock from Mayfair. |
b. An excellent person or thing; a beauty.
slang (
orig. U.S.).
| 1897 Ade in Chicago Record 17 Sept. 4/5 This sister was fair to look upon. In fact, it was frequently remarked that she was a Pippin. 1906 G. H. Lorimer Jack Spurlock (1908) ii. 28 ‘I'd like to have the job which goes with that blonde,’ and I pointed to a pippin who was pounding the keys just outside his door. 1914 ‘Bartimeus’ Naval Occasions xii. 88 The Flag-Lieutenant introduced him to a lady of surpassing loveliness—The Fairest..of All the Pippins. 1920 Wodehouse Jill the Reckless xvi. 237 ‘We shall..open in Baltimore next Monday with practically a different piece. And it's going to be a pippin, believe me,’ said our hero modestly. 1926 Amer. Speech I. 462 The Apollo Theater in London prints the following glossary of slang in its program as a guide to ‘Is Zat So?’.. Pippin, beauty. 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel i. 47 He..got a book from a man at the hotel. Gosh it was a pippin. 1939 R. Stout Some Buried Caesar vi. 71 The fight for a hotel room which was a pippin—I mean the fight, not the room. 1948 H. Innes Blue Ice ii. 38 She's a pippin... Knows her way around already. 1972 Wodehouse Pearls, Girls & Monty Bodkin viii. 120 So I have a plan..and it's a pippin. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
pippin cider,
pippin jelly,
pippin pie,
pippin trade;
pippin grower,
pippin-monger,
pippin-pelting,
pippin-squeezer;
pippin-face, a red round face; so
pippin-faced adj.;
† pippin-fruit, a fruit containing ‘pippins’ or pips (
obs.);
pippin-hearted a., faint-hearted, timid;
† pippin-squire = apple-squire (
obs.);
† pippin-tea, ? an infusion of pippins (
obs.).
| 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Cyder, They..found their *pepin cyder not so pleasant as their moyle or red streak cyder. |
| 1598 Marston Pygmal. Sat. iii. 150 He neuer durst vnto these Ladies show His *pippin face. 1837 Dickens Pickw. vi, The hard-headed man with the pippin-face. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton vi, This old shepherd, with his withered pippin face. |
| 1837 Dickens Pickw. vi, A little hard-headed, Ripstone-*pippin-faced man. |
| 1675 Cotton (title) The Planters Manual: being instructions for the Raising, Planting, and Cultivating all sorts of Fruit-Trees, whether Stone-fruits or *Pepin-fruits. |
| 1833 H. Martineau Tale of Tyne i, If I were to turn pippin-monger instead of *pippin-grower. |
| 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 171 They might have been the meekest, most *pippin-hearted little men in the world. |
| 1718 M. Eales Receipts 51 Take *Pippin-Jelly. |
| 1607 Heywood Fayre Mayde Wks. 1874 II. 57 You are a *pippinmonger to call me Russetting or apple-john. |
| 1835 Edin. Rev. LXI. 406 Hissing, hooting, *pippin-pelting, and driving them from the boards. |
| 1592 Greene Disput. 5 A *pipping Pye that cost in the Market foure pence. |
| 1600 Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood xxxiii. 39 A Dogges yeoman, or some *pippin Squier. |
| 1706 E. Baynard in Sir J. Floyer Hot & Cold Bath. ii. 323 For his constant Drink..*Pippin-Thea,..with Syrup of Rasberries. |
| 1745 *Pippin trade [see pippiner]. |
Hence
† ˈpippined a., having pips;
† ˈpippiner, a ship engaged in the ‘pippin trade’ (see
quot.).
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 72 Grapis feire and greete, Pypened hard [L. grani callosi] and drie. 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman iii. (1841) I. 19 If a merchant comes to me to hire a small ship of me, and tells me it is for the pippin⁓trade; or to buy a vessel, and tells me he intends to make a pippiner of her; the meaning is, that she is to run to Seville for oranges, or to Malaga for lemons. |