tips

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of tip.

   The barista pooled her tips at the end of the shift.

   Skiers waxed the tips of their skis before the race.

   Note

   One meaning of tip lives mostly in this plural: a small piece of meat, usually met as tips rather than tip. Elsewhere the plural is regular, covering pointed ends, protective caps, the free end of a stringed instrument's bow, even a gilder's camel-hair brush. Keep it apart from the Australian chasing game, which shares the spelling but is uncountable and has no singular.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of tip.

   The boxer tips the scales at one hundred fifty pounds.

   She tips generously whenever the service is fast and friendly.

   Note

   The present-tense form of a verb that works both ways round: someone tips a chair over, or the chair tips over by itself. The same pattern holds for tilting, as when a boat tips to one side. Emptying and dumping always take an object (he tips the rubbish out). The dated slang sense "to drink" belongs to period writing rather than everyday use.

   The waiter tips the tray toward the table.

   The tray tips, and the glasses slide off.

3. 3
   nounAustraliauncountable

   A popular children's game of chase, equivalent to tag, in which one player tries to touch another, who then becomes the chaser.

   At recess the whole class ran around the field playing tips.

   She was always the fastest at tips and rarely got caught.

   Similartag, tig

   Note

   An Australian playground name for the game known elsewhere as tag. Though it ends in -s, it is not a plural. It is an uncountable noun, so children play tips, never a tips, and it takes a singular verb, as in "tips is the favorite at recess." Use it when writing Australian speech or settings. Elsewhere, tag is the word readers will expect.

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