tipple

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verb

tip·​ple ˈti-pəl How to pronounce tipple (audio)
tippled; tippling ˈti-p(ə-)liŋ How to pronounce tipple (audio)

intransitive verb

: to drink liquor especially by habit or to excess

transitive verb

: to drink (liquor) especially continuously in small amounts
tippler noun

tipple

2 of 3

noun (1)

tipple

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noun (2)

1
: a place where or an apparatus by which cars (as for coal) are loaded or emptied
2
: a coal-screening plant

Examples of tipple in a Sentence

Verb I do tipple now and then.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
The legendary Doyle’s in Jamaica Plain, for example, which dated back to the 1880s and for years was a place where the political class tippled, is no more. Danny McDonald, BostonGlobe.com, 4 May 2023
Noun
This homemade tipple has taken over TikTok (and Sleepytime tea’s spot on many nightstands). Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, Scientific American, 16 Feb. 2024 Get the recipe > Brennan’s Brandy Milk Punch Along with the bloody mary, brandy milk punch is a New Orleans brunch mainstay (and one of our favorite holiday tipples). Saveur Editors, Saveur, 14 Feb. 2024 Simply Italian in a heart shape to enjoy with your tipples. Georgann Yara, The Arizona Republic, 13 Feb. 2024 After a busy day, make your way to the internal garden and relieve your tired hooves at the footbath, relax in the library with a book, or enjoy a tipple at the bar with a front-row seat to the beauty of Mt. Yotei. Christina Liao, Vogue, 30 Dec. 2023 The classic spiked dessert hides out for hours before the merrymaking begins, soaking up rum in a secluded cabinet to safeguard it from those who'd like to take a nibble—or from that one relative who'd prefer to add an extra tipple when no one is watching. Nicola Blaque, Southern Living, 11 Nov. 2023 This cocktail takes champagne, the quintessential celebratory tipple, and livens it up even more with a vibrant citrus cordial. Anna Luisa Rodriguez, Washington Post, 28 Dec. 2023 The youngest recruits to businesses may well not want to drink at all, thus alienating them from older managers who like to kick back with a tipple. Byeleanor Pringle, Fortune, 10 Nov. 2023 The bottle happened to be from Casa Real, a 98-year old distillery with four generations of experience making the country’s favorite tipple. Pat Saperstein, Variety, 30 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tipple.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

back-formation from obsolete tippler alehouse keeper, from Middle English tipler

Noun (2)

English dialect tipple to tip over, frequentative of English tip entry 1

First Known Use

Verb

1560, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Noun (1)

1581, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1880, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of tipple was in 1560

Dictionary Entries Near tipple

Cite this Entry

“Tipple.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tipple. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

tipple

verb
tip·​ple
ˈtip-əl
tippled; tippling
-(ə-)liŋ
: to drink liquor especially by habit
tippler
-(ə-)lər
noun

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