clipped

1. 1
   adjective

   Reduced in length or size by cutting away parts.

   The gardener admired the neatly clipped boxwood lining the path.

   A row of clipped hedges framed the formal garden.

   Similartrimmed, manicured, cropped, shorn

   Oppositeovergrown, untrimmed, unkempt

2. 2
   adjective

   Spoken with each word pronounced separately, sharply, and distinctly.

   The officer's clipped tone left no room for argument.

   He answered in clipped sentences, each word sharp and precise.

   Similarcurt, terse, crisp, brusque, abrupt

   Oppositerambling

   Note

   Here the trimming happens to words. Speech is pictured like a neatly cut hedge, each word cut off cleanly with nothing left to trail into the next. It is used only of speech: a clipped voice, tone, accent or reply. Where distinct simply means easy to follow, clipped adds a sense of economy, of words kept short and spare, which can read as brisk or curt depending on the speaker.

3. 3
   verb

   Past tense and past participle of clip.

   He clipped the wires before rewiring the panel.

   The groom clipped the horse's mane neatly.

   Note

   One spelling covers two quite different kinds of clipping. One is gripping or fastening (she clipped the badge to her lapel). The other is cutting or cutting short (he clipped the hedge, the editor clipped the speech). The object usually tells you which is meant. The final p doubles before -ed, and the single form serves both the simple past and the participle in perfect and passive use.

4. 4
   adjectivecolloquial

   Circumcised; having had the foreskin removed.

   Many parents choose to have their sons clipped within the first week.

   The locker-room joke about being clipped fell flat.

   Similarcircumcised, cut

   Oppositeuncircumcised, uncut

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