To have a KIP

Posted by Bruce Kahl on August 01, 2001

In Reply to: To have a KIP posted by Noel Harvey on August 01, 2001

: To have a kip is accepted as to have a sleep. But where does the word KIP derive from? Having searched many references I have so far been unable to satisfy my curiosity.

: Can anyone help?

: Noel.

kip
slang n. 1 sleep; nap. 2 bed or cheap lodgings. from the Danish kippe meaning hut
The Pocket Oxford Dictionary of Current English, © Oxford University Press 1996

The word kippe meant a brothel in 18th-century English, probably deriving from a similar Danish word signifying a low-class inn. In the 19th century the word was extended to denote a doss house, and by the early 20th century was acquiring its modern meanings. The word is not unknown in the USA but is much more commonly used in Britain.
Bloomsbury Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, © Tony Thorne 1997

doss house n
a dormitory for vagrants or a cheap, shabby hotel.

• To have a KIP ESC 08/01/01
  • To have a KIP Bob 08/01/01
  • To have a KIP Bruce Kahl 08/01/01