DictionaryAI

pimp

PIMP/pɪmp/

Pluralpimps

Verbpimps, pimping, pimped

9 meanings of pimp

Practice

  1. 1
    sex trade bossnouncountable
    A person who finds customers for prostitutes and acts as the manager of a group of them.

    Police arrested the pimp after three of the women agreed to testify against him.

    The pimps ran the operation out of two motels near the highway.

    Similarprocurer

    Note

    It also serves as a blunt metaphor for any exploiting middleman, as in a singer's line that he is a hooker selling songs and his pimp's a record label.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • A singer describes himself as a hooker selling songs and his record label as his pimp, in Panic! at the Disco’s “Hey Look Ma, I Made It”. youtube.com
  2. 2
    make fancyverbslangtransitive
    To customize something to excess, especially a car or other vehicle.

    He pimped out his old Cadillac with gold rims and a sound system that rattles windows.

    They want to pimp my bike with neon lights and chrome.

    UsageUsually pimp out or pimp up: pimped out his old car.

    Similarcustomize

  3. 3
    promoteverbslangUStransitive
    To push or publicize something, talking it up to others.

    She's been pimping her new podcast on every social platform she can find.

    Authors now have to pimp their own books at every bookstore and festival.

    UsageIn a press release or cover letter, use promote instead.

    Similarpromote, plug, hype, push, tout

  4. 4
    verbintransitive
    To act as a pimp: to find customers for prostitutes, or to offer someone as a prostitute, taking a share of the earnings.

    He had been pimping for years before the police caught up with him.

    Prosecutors said he started to pimp after losing his job at the docks.

  5. 5
    very cooladjectiveslang
    Excellent, or fashionable and stylish.

    Those new sneakers are pimp, man.

    The new apartment is pretty pimp, with a rooftop pool and a view of the river.

    UsageCan sound crude or odd to many listeners, because the main meaning of pimp is a man who runs prostitutes.

    Similarcool, awesome, fly

    Oppositelame

  6. 6
    ladies' mannounslangcountable
    A man who has an easy time attracting women.

    Every woman at the party wanted his number, and his friends called him a pimp all night.

    Back in high school he was a real pimp, with a different girl on his arm at every dance.

    Similarplayer

    Note

    African American Vernacular English turned the word into praise for a man's ease with women. Here it describes charm, not a trade: calling someone a pimp in this sense makes no claim that he has anything to do with prostitution, and among friends it is a compliment.

Less common meanings

  1. 7
    verbslangUS
    To persuade, sweet-talk or trick someone into doing something that benefits you.
  2. 8
    verbslang
    Of a senior doctor, to question a resident or medical student with ever harder questions until one cannot be answered.
  3. 9
    numeral
    The number five in Cumbrian and Welsh systems for counting sheep.

Practice

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Origin

No one knows where the word comes from. Possible sources are French pimpant ("smart, sparkish") and German Pimpf ("boy, youth, young squirt"). In Old English, a word close in meaning was forspennend, literally "solicitor."