▪ I. tippet, n.
(ˈtɪpɪt)
Forms: 4–6 tipet, 4–7 typet, (4 typeth, 4–5 tepet), 5 typett, -itte; 5–6 typ-, 6 tipp-, typpett(e, 6–7 typpet, tippit, 7 tipit; 4– tippet; also Sc. 5 tipat (tuppat), 5–6 tipp-, typp-, typat, tepat, -e.
[Origin uncertain; some suggest identity with OE. tæpped, tæppet, *tęped (pl. tæppedu, tepedu) carpet, hanging, etc. = OHG. teppid, -ith, -it, tepid, -it: both ad. L. tapēte (-a, -um) a carpet, tapestry hanging, bed-cover, table-cover. But there are great difficulties both of phonology and of sense. Others suggest a derivative of tip n.1 See Note below.]
1. a. A long narrow slip of cloth or hanging part of dress, formerly worn, either attached to and forming part of the hood, head-dress, or sleeve, or loose, as a scarf or the like. Obs. exc. Hist.
| c 1300 in Langtoft's Chron. in Pol. Songs (Camden) 303 For he haves ovirhipped, Hise tipet [v.r. typeth] is typped, Hise tabard es tome. [1342 Concilium Lond. c. 2 Et caputiis cum tipettis miræ longitudinis.] c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 33 On haly dayes biforn hir [his wife] wolde hee [Symkyn] go With his typet y-bounde about his heed. 1401 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 69 What meenith thi tipet, Jakke, as longe as a stremer, that hangith longe bihinde, and kepith thee not hoot? 14.. Beryn 662 He wissh a-wey the blood, And bond the sorys to his hede with the typet of his hood. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 494/2 Typett, liripipium [a long band or scarf (Du Cange)]. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 41 My tepet of blak sarsenet. 1473–4 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 16, j½ elne of vellous for ij tuppatis to the King. Ibid. 17 A typpat to the King. 1502 Ibid. II. 197 For ane tepat and ane belt to the King. 1532–3 Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 13 §2 It shalbe lefull to all..Doctors of the one Lawe or the other..to weare..blacke saten, in their tippittes. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 7 Their heades rouled in pleasauntes and typpets lyke the Egipcians. a 1626 Bacon New Atl. (1650) 6 His Turban was white with a small red Crosse on the Topp. He had also a Tippet of fine Linnen. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 12/1 The Tippet [of a Hood] hangs from the hinder part of the Crown, and reacheth backwards to the ground. Ibid., A French Hood..having the Flap or Tippet hanging down the wearers Back, may be termed a Mourning-hood. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour, France IV. 81 The students [of the Sorbonne]..are qualified for the degree of batchelors, and wear lambskins and tippets two years. 1834 J. R. Planché Brit. Costume 128 From the sleeves of this cote..depended long slips of cloth,..which were called tippets. |
b. A garment, usually of fur or wool, covering the shoulders, or the neck and shoulders; a cape or short cloak, often with hanging ends. Now worn chiefly by women and girls, or by men as a part of certain official costumes.
In many early
quots. (omitted here), senses a and b are not distinguishable.
| 1481 Caxton Myrr. iii. xvi. 172 They be not alle clerkes that haue short typettis. 1554 Turner Sel. Rec. Oxford 219 [He] shall weare..a typpet of velvett as other Aldermen have accustomyd yn thoffyce of Mayraltie to do. 1684–5 Wood Life 11 Feb. (O.H.S.) III. 128 The mayor with his scarlet, and stole or tippet over it. 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2115/4 Lost a Sable Tippet with scarlet and silver strings to it. 1709–10 Addison Tatler No. 116 ¶9 The Lynx shall cast its Skin at her Feet to make her a Tippet. 1848 Dickens Dombey i, She had furry articles for winter wear, as tippets, boas, and muffs. 1880 M. E. Braddon Just as I am iii, She gave the village children smart hats and tippets for summer. |
c. Eccl. A band of silk or other material worn round the neck, with the two ends pendent from the shoulders in front;
= scarf n.1 2.
| 1530 Palsgr. 281/2 Typpet for a preest, cornette. a 1555 Bradford in Coverdale Lett. Mart. (1564) 441 If God's word had place..Priestes should be otherwise knowen then by their shauen crownes and typets. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 9 Your corner caps and tippets will do nothing in this poynt. 1604 Const. & Canons Eccles. §58 It shall be lawful for such Ministers as are not Graduates to wear upon their Surplices, instead of Hoods, some decent Tippet of black, so it be not silk. 1617 Minsheu Ductor, Tippet, or habit which Vniuersitie men and Clergie men weare ouer their gownes L. Epitogium. 1678 Phillips (ed. 4), Tippet, a certain long Scarf which Doctors of Divinity wear when they go abroad in their Gowns. a 1750 T. Gordon Cordial for Low Spirits (1751) II. 78, I cannot for my heart think, that a Piece of Lawn, or a red Tippet, can make men holier than their neighbours. 1870 Disraeli Lothair vi, He..wore..over his cassock a purple tippet. 1903 P. Dearmer Parson's Handbk. (new ed.) 128 There are many clergymen in Ireland..who can still remember the ecclesiastical scarf called a tippet... The Canons on the subject must be misunderstood when the modern foreign idea of a short cape [see 1 b] is read into the word tippet. 1903 Church Times 11 Dec. 784/2 A deacon is entitled, like any other clergyman, to wear the broad black tippet, or scarf, over his surplice. |
d. Applied to a part of ancient or mediæval armour:
= camail 1.
rare.
| c 1400 Melayne 960 The Bischoppe gart hym with a spere Appon his tepet lighte. 1845 C. H. Smith in Kitto's Cycl. Bibl. Lit. I. 226/2 In Egypt..a more ancient national form was a kind of thorax, tippet,..or square, with an opening in it for the head, the four points covering the breast, back, and both upper arms. 1869 Boutell Arms & Arm. viii. (1874) 127 The camail..is the lower part of a mail coif, a hood, or a tippet of mail, which was fixed to the basinet, and hung gracefully over the shoulders, covering the upper part of the body-armour. |
† e. Phr.
to turn (one's) tippet: to change one's course or behaviour completely; in bad sense, to act the turncoat or renegade.
Obs.| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 44 So turned they their typpets by way of exchaunge, From laughyng to lowryng. 1563 Foxe A. & M. 1049/2 He changed his typpette, and played the Apostata. a 1577 Gascoigne Flowers (1587) 18 Those trifling bookes from whose lewde lore my tippet here I turne. 1598–9 B. Jonson Case is Altered iii. iii. You, to turn tippet! fie, fie! 1650 Trapp Comm. Exod. xii. 38 Strangers, that took hold of the skirts of these Jews..but afterwards turned tippet. |
† 2. A jocular name for a hangman's rope: usually
Tyburn tippet (also
Sc. St. Johnston's tippet:
cf. riband n. 3 a).
Obs.| ? 1462 Paston Lett. II. 86 The seide Perys tyed by an halter... This is a presoner, ye may knowe by his tepet and steff. 1549 Latimer 2nd Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 63 He should haue had a Tiburne tippet, a halpeny halter, and all suche proude prelates. c 1592 Marlowe Jew of Malta iv. iv, When the hangman had put on his hempen tippet, he made such haste to his prayers. 1680 C. Nesse Church Hist. 143 The cart at Tyburn drives away when the tippet is fast about the necks of the condemned. 1814 Scott Wav. xxxix, As I hae dealt a' my life in halters, I think nae mickle o' putting my craig in peril of a St. Johnstone's tippet. 1823 ― Quentin D. vi, Were I to be hanged myself, no other should tie tippet about my craig. |
3. An organ or formation in animals resembling or suggesting a tippet; in birds, dogs, etc.
= ruff n.2 3; in insects
= patagium c.
| 1815 [implied in tippet cuckoo, in 5]. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxxv. 539 The tegulæ that cover the base of the primary wings of insects of this Order..are what..I have called in the table patagia, or tippets. 18.. Mrs. Cameron Little Dog Flora 8 A very small dog..covered with long brown hair, with its tippet and feet quite white. 1866 Duke of Argyll Reign of Law v. (1871) 236 A species of Lophorius with a tippet of emerald spangles. 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 18 Conspicuous among these are the ruffs, or tippets, of some birds. |
4. Angling.
a. A length of twisted hair or gut forming part of a fishing-line.
Sc. b. Part of an artificial fly: see
quot. 1867, and
cf. 3.
| 1825 Jamieson, Tippet. 1. One length of twisted hair or gut in a fishing-line. 1867 F. Francis Angling x. (1880) 343 The wing is composed of a white ribbed snipe's feather, with longish tippets on either side. 1908 Dundee Advertiser 26 Oct. 8 We came upon a young fisherman ‘makin' tippits’, as he explained. The tippit is of horse-hair, woven in thin strands, knotted at either end. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
tippet armour (
cf. 1 d),
tippet-box;
tippet-like adj.;
† tippet-captain,
knight,
man, contemptuous nicknames for a priest or ecclesiatic (
cf. 1 c); so
† tippet-scuffle nonce-wd., an ecclesiastical wrangle;
tippet cuckoo,
grouse, names for species of these birds having a ‘tippet’ or ruff (
cf. 3);
tippet-grebe, a species of grebe, of which the skin, with the feathers on, is used for tippets.
| 1845 C. H. Smith in Kitto's Cycl. Bibl. Lit. I. 226/2 The late Roman legionaries..again wear the *tippet armour, like that of the Egyptians. |
| 1694 Lond. Gaz. No. 2980/4 Left in a Hackney-Coach.., a Wainscot *Tippet-Box with 2 Tippets, one Sable,..the other black Ribbond. |
| 1550 Bale Apol. 104 Thys *typpet captayne, in bringing fourth here S. Augustynes authoryte..is like to be pearced through wyth hys owne weapon. |
| 1815 Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool. IX. i. 112 *Tippet Cuckow. |
| 1776 Pennant Brit. Zool. II. 418 *Tippet Grebe... The under side of them being drest with the feathers on, are made into muffs and tippets; each bird sells for about fourteen shillings. 1829 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 352, I knocked down a tippet grebe. |
| 1550 Bale Eng. Votaries ii. L iij, The order of portasse men, *tippet knyghtes, or new shauen Syr Ihons. |
| 1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 439/2 A small *tippet-like appendage..on each side..at the base of the wings. |
| 1550 Bale Eng. Votaries ii. L iij, The first order of *tippet men, or secular priests. |
| 1641 Milton Reform. ii. Wks. 1851 III. 54 To make a Nationall Warre of a Surplice Brabble, a *Tippet-scuffle. |
Hence
ˈtippet v.1,
intr. to wear a tippet;
trans. to furnish or adorn with a tippet;
† ˈtippeter, a member of New College, Oxford, who wore a tippet: see
quot. and context.
| 1563 Becon Acts Christ & Antichr. §22 Wks. III. 398 b, Antichrist hath his Chaplens knowen by docking & doucking,..by *tippeting and gowning. 1889 Doyle Micah Clarke xvii. 155 Sweeping gowns of black silk trimmed and tippeted with costly furs. |
| a 1677 in Rashdall & Rait New College vi. (1901) 156 We call it a Habit, such as New College *Tippiters alwaies wore above their gownes. 1901 Ibid., Who constituted this class of tippeters we are unable to explain. |
[
Note. The normal and regular
repr. of
OE. tæppet down to 1600 was
tapet; and phonetic development of
i out of
a would be abnormal; the rare
ME. tepet and
Sc. tepat are
prob. from
tipet. The ordinary meaning of the
OE. and
ME. word, and of the
OHG., was ‘carpet’, as in Latin, but in
ælfric's Vocabulary,
tæppet occurs under the heading
Vestium Nomina, as if a name of a garment. Yet the gloss ‘
Sipla an healfhruh tæppet’, seems to come from the same source as one in the 15th c.
Nominale, under the heading
De Lectis et Ornamentis eorum, ‘Hec amphicapa est tapeta ex utraque parte villosa. Hec sipha idem est’ (
Wr.-W. 744/5), where the
sipha or
tapeta is evidently a bedcover; so that the ælfric entry is
prob. placed under the wrong heading. A change of meaning from ‘carpet’ or ‘bedcover’ to the senses above, is very improbable. Derivation of
tippet from
tip is favoured by the fact that
Ger. zipfel,
orig. diminutive of
zipf ‘tip’, has the senses ‘tip, point, end, lappet, tail’, etc.]
▪ II. tippet, v.2 (
ˈtɪpɪt)
[perh. alteration of tiptoe v.] To move on tiptoe. Also
transf. and
fig. Hence
ˈtippeting vbl. n.| 1916 W. de la Mare Songs of Childhood (new ed.) 3 See they're tippeting at the door; Their wee feet in measure falling. 1932 E. Bowen To North vii. 72 Then someone's wife opened a cold piano: she tinkled, she tippetted, she struck false chords and tried them again. 1934 ― Cat Jumps 84 Her affronted, muddled and rather tippeting manner. 1944 R. Lehmann Ballad & Source 258 Their wives tippet about on the bank in high heels. |
▪ III. tippet obs. form of
tipped,
tipt.