▪ I. gipsy, gypsy, n.
(ˈdʒɪpsɪ)
Pl. gipsies, gypsies. Forms: α. 6 gipcyan, gip-, gyptian, -sion, (jeptyon, -syon), gipson, -sen. β. 7 gypsey, -ee, 7–8 gypsie, 8–9 gipsey, 9- gypsy, 7– gipsy; pl. 7 gypsees, -ties, 9 gipseys, 7– gypsies, gipsies.
[The early form gipcyan is aphetic for Egyptian (B. 2); the change to gipsy may be due to influence of the suff. -y3, or perh. of L. ægyptius. Skelton (a 1529) has ‘By Mary Gipcy’, by St. Mary of Egypt.
From the quotations collected for the dictionary, the prevalent spelling of late years appears to have been gipsy. The plural gypsies is not uncommon, but the corresponding form in the sing. seems to have been generally avoided, prob. because of the awkward appearance of the repetition of y.]
1. a. A member of a wandering race (by themselves called Romany), of Hindu origin, which first appeared in England about the beginning of the 16th c. and was then believed to have come from Egypt.
They have a dark tawny skin and black hair. They make a living by basket-making, horse-dealing, fortune-telling, etc.; and have been usually objects of suspicion from their nomadic life and habits. Their language (called Romany) is a greatly corrupted dialect of Hindi, with large admixture of words from various European langs.
| α [1514 see Egyptian B. 2.] 1537 Ld. Cromwell in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 101 The Kings Maiestie, about a twelfmoneth past, gave a pardonne to a company of lewde personnes within this realme calling themselves Gipcyans, for a most shamfull and detestable murder. 1589 Nashe Martins Months Minde 32 Hee wandring..in the manner of a Gipson..was taken, and trust vp for a roge. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 86 Or like a gipsen, or a Iuggeler. |
| β 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. v. iii. 16 Both in a tune like two gipsies on a horse. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. 232 Like our canting rogues or Gypties. Ibid. 519 Gypsies. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. (1851) 305, I perceave him to be more ignorant in his art of divining then any Gipsy. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 130 ¶1 We saw at a little Distance from us a Troop of Gipsies. 1722 Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. iii. 170 She was put to lodge one night among a great company of gypsies. 1837 Howitt Rur. Life iii. i. (1862) 182 The true gipsies are readily distinguished by their..jet-black hair, black sparkling eyes, Indian complexions, and their genuine oriental language. 1875–7 Ruskin Morn. in Florence (1883) 165 The gipsy who is mending the old schoolmistress's kettle on the grass. |
¶ Allusively identified with
Egyptian.
| 1607 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. xii. 28 Oh this false Soule of Egypt!.. Like a right Gypsie hath at fast and loose Beguil'd me. 1615 W. Hull Mirr. Maiestie 60 In this Gypsy [Pharaoh's daughter], the wife of Salomon. |
b. Gipsy language, Romany.
| 1800 W. Whiter (title) Etymologicon Magnum..with illustrations drawn from various languages:..Sanscrit, Gipsey, Coptic, etc. 1841 Borrow Zincali i. ii. 53 We have found this beautiful metaphor both in Gypsy and Spanish. 1875 Smart & Crofton Dial. Eng. Gypsies 276 Tell me, old fellow, what the sun is in Gypsy. Ibid., I see you know plenty of Gypsy, and I dare say you know more words than any of us. 1930 J. Sampson Wind on Heath x. 277 (heading) One Use Of Gypsy. |
2. transf. † a. A cunning rogue.
Obs.| 1627 E. F. Hist. Edw. II (1680) 88 This Overture being come to the Queens ear, and withal the knowledge how this Gipsie [Spenser] had marshall'd his cunning practice,..she seem'd wondrously well-pleas'd. a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 30 Beware of the Gipsie, meaning Leicester, for he will be too hard for you all. |
b. A contemptuous term for a woman, as being cunning, deceitful, fickle, or the like; a ‘baggage’, ‘hussy’, etc. In more recent use merely playful, and applied
esp. to a brunette.
| 1632 Shirley Love in a Maze iv. 51 Yon. I heard You court another Mistris, that did answer it with entertainment. Thor. She was a very Gipsie. You were no sooner parted, but she us'd me Basely. 1673 Kirkman Unlucky Cit. 165 Cursing her [his Mother-in-law] for a dissembling hypocritical Gypsie. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin ii. 14 Thus did the Gypsey flutter up and down Through City, Country, Village, and good Town. 1709 E. W. Life Donna Rosina 60 The cunning Gipsy, pretending she did not understand his meaning, returned him a civil Answer. a 1721 Prior Dutch Proverb, A slave I am to Clara's eyes: The gipsy knows her power, and flies. 1790 Moreton W. Ind. Isl. 127 Keep your employer's bosom-gipsy modestly at a distance [The reference is to a coloured mistress]. 1828 Moncrieff Tom & Jerry i. vi, Confound the little gipsey, she has fairly given us the slip, by Jupiter. [1858 Geo. Eliot Janet's Repent. vii, ‘I've a capital idea, Gypsey!’ (that was his name for his dark-eyed wife when he was in an extraordinarily good humour).] |
c. U.S. slang. (See
quots.)
| 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §766/6 Gypsy, an out-of-town truck with no terminal in its destination city. 1954 Ibid. (ed. 2) §765/5 Gipsy, an independent truckman. Ibid. §766/6 Gipsy, an independently owned truck. 1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. A. 36/1 The primary violators among truck drivers are the so-called ‘gypsies’ who operate independently. |
3. Short for
gipsy-bonnet,
-hat,
-moth,
-winch (see 6).
| 1808–25 Jamieson, Gipsy, a woman's cap, or mutch, plaited on the back of the head. 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 431 Liparis dispar. The Gipsy. 1823 J. F. Cooper Pioneers xli, Concealing her raven hair under her gipsy. 1869 E. Newman Brit. Moths 37 The caterpillar of the Gipsy has the ground-colour black. 1889 Century Dict., Gipsy 4. Naut. a small winch or crab used on board ship; same as gipsy-winch. |
4. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib., as
gipsy-encampment,
gipsy-fair,
gipsy-prediction.
b. appositive, as
gipsy-boy,
gipsy-brat,
gipsy-devil,
gipsy-Jewess,
gipsy-lassie,
gipsy-man,
gipsy-mountebank,
gipsy-musician,
gipsy-wench.
c. instrumental, as
gipsy-ridden ppl. a. Also
gipsy-like adj. and
adv.,
gipsy-looking adj.,
gipsy-wise adv.| 1807 Crabbe Hall of Just. i. 56 When first I loved—the *Gipsy-Boy. |
| 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 150 Two bundles of rags with a *gipsy brat in each of them. |
| a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal 272 Conjecture did attribute it [the sound] to magick: and this *gypsie-devil continued this trick till the coming of our Saviour. |
| 1830 Carlyle in Froude Life (1882) II. 88 The ‘Scottish History’..looks like that of a *gipsy encampment. |
| 1881 Freeman Sk. Venice 57 The traveller who comes on the right day may come in for a *gipsy fair at Duino. |
| 1693 Dryden Juvenal Sat. vi. (1697) 153 A *Gypsie Jewess whispers in your Ear, And begs an Alms. |
| 1840 Longfellow Sp. Stud. iii. v, God send the *Gypsy lassie here, And not the Gypsy man. |
| 1651 Randolph, etc. Hey for Honesty i. i, Troth, and he may tell you your fortune, *Gypsie-like, and all out of your pockets too. 1652 Wharton Ded. to Rothomanne's Chirom., The Rarity of the Subject, and the Gipsy-like Esteem it hath amongst the Vulgar [etc.]. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 610 The heath was fringed by a wild gipsy-like camp of vast extent. |
| 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 20, I never saw any one who so much reminded me in person of..Meg Merrilies..as dark, as *gipsy-looking. |
| 1840 *Gipsy man [see Gipsy Lassie]. |
| 1677 R. Cary Palæol. Chron. ii. i. xx. 145 Those..*Gipsie Mountebank Assertors of Tradition. |
| 1886 W. J. Tucker E. Europe 219 How is it that those ragged *gipsy musicians don't wash themselves? |
| 1849 De Quincey Eng. Mailcoach Wks. 1862 IV. 295 Some *gipsy prediction in his childhood. |
| 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic iii. (1840) 62 The whole world, or great part of it, has been *gipsey-ridden by them, even to this day. |
| a 1627 Middleton & Rowley Sp. Gipsy iv. i, Our *Gipsie Wenches are not common. |
| 1895 Daily News 12 Dec. 6/2 Setting forth on his travels *gipsy-wise. |
5. attrib. passing into adj. Resembling what is customary among or characteristic of gipsies; often applied to open-air meals or pic-nics, as
gipsy breakfast,
gipsy dinner,
gipsy party, etc.
| c 1630 Donne Serm. lxxxv. (1649) II. 34 Never ask wrangling Controverters that make Gypsie-knots of Mariages;—ask thy Conscience and that will tell thee that thou wast maried till death should depart you. 1654 Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) II. 89, I had a gipsie visit of a mother and her children, bag and baggage. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 22 The delusive, gypsey predictions of a ‘right to choose our governors’. 1816 Jane Austen Emma III. vi. 87 There is to be no form or parade—a sort of gipsy party. 1838 Lytton Alice ii. ii, Getting up an impromptu dance or a gipsy dinner. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 46 With gipsy talent they foretell How Miss Duquesne will marry well. a 1845 Hood To St. Swithin vi, Why spoil a Gipsy party at their tea, By throwing your cold water upon hot? 1849 E. E. Napier Excurs. S. Africa II. 294 This little gipsy tent, weighing about twenty pounds..is about three feet high. 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (ed. 2) I. 34 We set about preparing our gipsy breakfast. |
6. Special combs.:
gipsy-bonnet, a woman's hat or bonnet with large side-flaps;
gipsy-flower, the wild scabious;
gipsy-gold (see
quot.);
gipsy-greyhound, some species of greyhound;
gipsy-hat = gipsy-bonnet;
gipsy-herb = gipsy-wort;
gipsy-herring, the pilchard;
gipsy-moth,
Ocneria dispar;
gipsy-onions (see
quot.);
gipsy-ring (see
quot.);
gipsy-rose, the wild and garden scabious (
Scabiosa arvensis and atropurpurea);
gipsy('s) pig, the hedgehog;
gipsy('s) pork, the flesh of the hedgehog;
gipsy-straw, straw for making gipsy-bonnets;
gipsy's warning, a cryptic or sinister warning;
gipsy table, a light round table supported on three crossed sticks;
gipsy-winch (see
quot.);
gipsy-wort, modern book-name for
Lycopus europæus (and for the whole genus).
| 1855 Tennyson Maud i. xx. 1 The frock and *gipsy bonnet. |
| 1620 Markham Farew. Husb. viii. 60 The weeds which are most incident thereunto, are..Thistles, Hare-bottles and *Gipsie flowers. |
| 1883 Jefferies in Longm. Mag. June 189 Red sorrel spires..stand the boldest, and in their numbers threaten the buttercups. To these in the distance they give the *gipsy-gold tint—the reflection of fire on plates of the precious metal. |
| 1695 Lond. Gaz. No. 3082/4 Lost or stolen..a small blue *Gipsy Grayhound, 16 Inches high. |
| 1805 Emily Clark Banks of Douro III. 325 She..tied on a white chip *gipsy-hat. 1827 Hone Every-day Bk. II. 190 The woman [has] a gipsy-hat jerked up behind. |
| 1727 C. Threlkeld Synops. Stirp. Hib. G 2 b, Some call this [Water-horehound] the *Gipsy-herb, because those stroling Cheats called Gipsies do dye themselves of a blackish Hue with the Juice of this Plant. |
| 1803 Walker in Prize Ess. Highland Soc. Scotl. II. 271 The pilchard..is known among our fishers by the name of the *gipsey herring. 1883 Daily News 7 Sept. 2/1 A stranger..might imagine that the great shoals of ‘gipsy herrings’ had already arrived. |
| 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 246 Liparis dispar (*gipsy moth). 1882 Kirby Europ. Butterflies & Moths 110 Ocneria Dispar (Gipsy Moth). 1897 Bailey Princ. Fruit-growing 24 The codlin-moth, Hessian-fly, gipsy-moth, and a score of other pests. |
| 1847–78 Halliwell *Gipsy-onions, wild garlic. |
| 1928 Sunday Disp. 2 Sept. 3/3 ‘Gypsy Pork.’ Hedgehogs are succulent this month. September is the month when the ‘gypsies' pig’ is plump and tender. |
| 1880 Brewer Reader's Handbk. (1885) 385/1 *Gipsey Ring, a flat gold ring, with stones let into it, at given distances. So called because the stones were originally Egyptian pebbles—that is, agate and jasper. 1892 Black Three Feathers 220 The purchasing of a gipsy-ring. |
| 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 97 Wild scabious, or, as the country people call it, the *gipsy-rose! |
| 1795 Hull Advertiser 29 Aug. 3/1 Fashions for August. Bonnet of cottage *gypsey straw. |
| 1880 M. E. Braddon Just as I am vii, The middle-aged lady..with a lamp and a work-basket on the *gipsy table before her. |
| 1918–19 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. 369/2 Vocal records... The *Gipsy's Warning (Tenor). 1923 W. J. Locke Moordius & Co. viii. 113 Bid him beware of Peter Moordius... The gipsy's second warning. 1928 D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club xi. 126 ‘What price the gipsy's warning now?’ said Lord Peter. 1941 ‘P. Wentworth’ Danger Point (1942) xvi. 100, I expect Robson's got you taped... And that being so, suppose you listen to the gypsy's warning. 1967 A. Christie Endless Night xiii. 112 ‘You'll have to fend for yourself.’ ‘Cut out the gipsy's warning, Santonix,’ I said. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Gipsy-winch, a small winch having a drum, ratchet, and pawl, and attachable to a post. |
| 1786 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 2) I. 19 Lycopus, *gypsie-wort. 1854 S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 297 The lycopus, or gipsy-wort, is said to derive its English name from being employed by the wandering tribe to stain their skins of a dark colour. |
Hence
gipsiˈologist,
gipsyˈologist (
rare), one who makes a special study of gipsies (also
gipsologist);
ˈgipsyhood, gipsydom;
ˈgipsyish a., somewhat gipsy-like;
ˈgipsyless a., free from gipsies;
ˈgipsyness, gipsy-like appearance or character;
ˈgipsyry, a gipsy encampment.
| 1863 Chambers's Encycl. V. 172/1 The facile princeps of all *Gypsologists is Professor Pott of Halle. 1875 F. Hall in Nation (N.Y.) XX. 116/2 We are not certain that the observation of Gypsyologists has been sufficiently accurate to leave no room for doubt on this head. 1894 Athenæum 6 Oct. 454/2 ‘Scottish Gypsies under the Stewarts’ should find many readers outside the small company of gipsiologists. 1885 Ibid. 18 July 78 So accomplished a gipsologist..must know that Meg Merrilies as a gipsy is entirely a fancy portrait. |
| 18.. Whittier Yankee Gypsies Prose Wks. 1889 I. 342 It has been said..that their ancestors were indeed a veritable importation of English *gypsyhood. |
| 1890 Athenæum 4 Oct. 441/2 Valentine is both handsome and piquant in her *gipsyish way. 1894 Harper's Mag. Jan. 277/1 Painters..are proverbially gypsyish in their habits. |
| 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 436 We have stocks in the village, and a treadmill in the next town; and therefore we go *gipsyless. |
| 1874 Helps Ivan De Biron v. ii. 263 They had been pleased and amused at the *gypsyness, as they had called it, which had always been visible in Azra's costume. |
| 1874 Borrow Romano Lavo-Lil 251 What may be called the grand Metropolitan *Gypsyry is on the Surrey side of the Thames. 1882 Leland Gypsies 362 Near the city [Philadelphia] are three distinct gypsyries. |
▪ II. gipsy, v. (
ˈdʒɪpsɪ)
[f. the n.] intr. To live or act like gipsies,
esp. to have meals in the open air, to picnic. Chiefly used in
gerund and
pres. pple.| a 1627 Middleton & Rowley Sp. Gipsy iv. i, For so well I love you That I in pitty of this Trade of Gipsying..offer you A state to settle you..so I may call you My Husband. 1834 W. Ind. Sketch Bk. II. 184 An occasional marooning, or gipsying party. c 1840 Ransford Song, In the days when we went gipsying, A long time ago. 1847 Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xlix. (1879) 418 As cold weather came..he could no longer go on with his gipsying mode of life. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxv. 249 The whole nation is gypsying with us upon the icy meadows. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life ii. 61 Hunting lion..in South Africa; gipsying with Borrow in Spain and Algiers. 1887 F. Francis Jr. Saddle & Mocassin i. 20 It is a delightful climate there in summer, and a glorious country for gipsying. 1890 Sat. Rev. 13 Sept. 327/1 Buy a dozen ash rods, a pine ridge-pole, and some red blankets, and set forth gipsying and to gipsy. |
b. quasi-trans. to gipsy away: to filch, steal.
| 1886 Sir F. Doyle Remin. 98 Besides gipsying away a good many lines, he quietly conveyed Macaulay's notes, totidem verbis, into his manuscript. |