I. ˈdrip verb
( dripped or dript ; dripped or dript ; dripping ; drips )
Etymology: Middle English drippen, from Old English dryppan; akin to Middle Dutch druppen to drip, trickle, Old English dropa drop — more at drop
transitive verb
1.
a. : to let fall in drops
the rain fell in a steady drizzle, and the air was so damp that [her] hair dripped moisture — Laura Krey
dripping paint direct from the tube onto their canvases — W.C.Smith
each word she said dripped acid on the Italian woman's heart — Donn Byrne
b. : to spill or emit (something likened to a copiously dropping liquid) in an overflow or enveloping shower
the honey locusts drip their golden scent — Mary A. Taylor
their crimes have increased in violence and often drip horror — Time
dripping invective from every sentence
2. : to provide (a pipe) with a cock for draining condensate
3. : to prepare (the beverage coffee) by letting boiling water seep slowly through finely ground coffee
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to let fall drops of moisture or liquid
trees dripping after the rain
icicles dripping on the roof
allowing the paint to drip evenly upon the ground color — H.A.Helverston
b. : to become so saturated as to overflow in drops
toast dripping with butter
c. : to exude or become enveloped in a shower of something likened to a dropping liquid
tunic dripping with gold braid and lace — Marcia Davenport
she beamed, she seemed fairly to drip with the milk of human kindness — P.B.Kyne
the latest ballads dripping with sentiment — Carl Wittke
d. obsolete , of weather : drizzle , mist
2.
a. : to fall in drops
water drips from the eaves
b. : to hang or appear to hang suspended like a drop about to fall
a brown, handmade cigarette forever dripped from his lower lip — Harold Sinclair
c. : to seem to drift down or to overflow slowly and gently like drops of a light rain
the music drips from saxophones — Maxwell Anderson
pale moonlight, dripping through the leaves, spilled down in splashes — Hamilton Basso
the most abject sentimentality drips from every page — Pamela Taylor
II. noun
( -s )
1.
a. : a falling in drops
the woods by day and by night were full of nothing but solitude … and drip — John Collier b. 1884
an overflow of the wax called guttering but more commonly known as drip — W.W.Klenke
also : a letting something fall in drops or blobs
a water clock — a drip affair on the order of an hourglass — A.L.Kroeber
the first application of the drip technique to painting — Time
b. : liquid that falls, leaks, overflows, or is extruded in drops
the jungle was exuding its fog drip — Norman Mailer
a pan for catching the drip from wet umbrellas — J.E.Gloag
the drip of frozen foods exuded during thawing
gripping the drip gutters of a car
postnasal drip into the trachea
gobs here, drips there, the palette knife always more active than the brush — R.M.Coates
c. : an accumulation formed by descending or extruded drops:
(1) Britain : dripping 2b
bread and drip
(2) : a collection of drops (as of paint or varnish) at the bottom edge of an article that has been coated by dipping
d. : a manner of hanging suggestive of something dripping wet or having been dripping wet
a tricolor or two hung in a dry drip from an occasional balcony — Bruce Marshall
the long drip of her straight hair — Edith Sitwell
2. : the sound made by or as if by falling drops
a faint drip of oars
the stiff, tinny drip of the banjos on the lawn — Scott Fitzgerald
3. also drip pipe : a small pipe or outlet for draining condensate (as from a main or a heating-system radiator)
4. : a part of a cornice, sill course, window head, or other horizontal architectural member that projects beyond the rest and is of such section as to throw off the rainwater ; also : an overlapping lead or strip of tin or copper serving the same purpose
5. : a device for the slow continued administration of a fluid at a steady rate especially into a vein of the body ; also : any material so administered
a glucose drip
6. slang : a trickle or weak stream of senseless fatuous talk or writing : sloppy sentiment : drivel
the daily drip I have to listen to — Thorne Smith
just the sort of drip one has come to expect from the author
7. slang : someone looked on as tiresomely or annoyingly dull from lack of personality, animation, or social amenability ; also : a rather simple or stupid person