<p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>(used with object) to plunge (something, as a cloth or sponge) temporarily into a liquid, so as to moisten it, dye it, or cause it to take up some of the liquid: He dipped the brush into the paint bucket.</li><li>to raise or take up by a bailing, scooping, or ladling action: to dip water out of a boat; to dip ice cream from a container.</li><li>to lower and raise: to dip a flag in salutation.</li><li>to immerse (a sheep, hog, etc.) in a solution to destroy germs, parasites, or the like.</li><li>to make (a candle) by repeatedly plunging a wick into melted tallow or wax.</li><li>Nautical: to lower and rehoist (a yard of a lugsail) when coming about in tacking.</li><li>Archaic: to baptize by immersion.</li><li>Obsolete: to moisten or wet as if by immersion.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>(used without object) to plunge into water or other liquid and emerge quickly: The boat dipped into the waves.</li><li>to put the hand, a dipper, etc., down into a liquid or a container, especially in order to remove something (often followed by in or into): He dipped into the jar for an olive.</li><li>to withdraw something, especially in small amounts (usually followed by in or into): to dip into savings.</li><li>to sink or drop down: The sun dipped below the horizon.</li><li>to incline or slope downward: At that point the road dips into a valley.</li><li>to decrease slightly or temporarily: Stock-market prices often dip on Fridays.</li><li>to engage slightly in a subject (often followed by in or into): to dip into astronomy.</li><li>to read here and there in a book, subject, or author's work (often followed by in or into): to dip into Plato.</li><li>South Midland and Southern U.S.: to take snuff.</li></ul><p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>the act of dipping.</li><li>that which is taken up by dipping.</li><li>a quantity taken up by dipping; the amount that a scoop, ladle, dipper, etc., will hold.</li><li>Chiefly Northern U.S.: a liquid or soft substance into which something is dipped.</li><li>a creamy mixture of savory foods for scooping with potato chips, crackers, and the like, often served as an hors d'oeuvre, especially with cocktails.</li><li>a momentary lowering; a sinking down.</li><li>a moderate or temporary decrease: a dip in stock-market prices.</li><li>a downward extension, inclination, slope, or course.</li><li>the amount of such extension.</li><li>a hollow or depression in the land.</li><li>a brief swim: She took a dip in the ocean and then sat on the beach for an hour.</li><li>Geology, Mining: the downward inclination of a vein or stratum with reference to the horizontal.</li><li>the angular amount by which the horizon lies below the level of the eye.</li><li>Also called angle of dip.</li><li>the angle that a freely rotating magnetic needle makes with the plane of the horizon.</li><li>a short, downward plunge, as of an airplane.</li><li>a candle made by repeatedly dipping a wick into melted tallow or wax.</li><li>Gymnastics: an exercise on the parallel bars in which the elbows are bent until the chin is on a level with the bars, and then the body is elevated by straightening the arms.</li><li>Slang: a pickpocket.</li></ul>