Plip

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A locking system for motor vehicles that uses a small, hand-held remote control.
  2. 2
    A light sound or action like liquid hitting a surface.

    "He heard the plips of rain on the roof."

Verb
  1. 1
    To make the sound of liquid hitting a hard surface.
  2. 2
    To lock or unlock using a remote control locking device.

    "2004, Jenny Colgan, Isla Dewar, Muriel Gray, et al. (contributors), Scottish Girls About Town, page 69, […] was unloading bags from the boot of a tiny, shiny, black Ka thing which she then plipped shut with an electronic key."

Synonyms

All synonyms
tap

Example

More examples

"He heard the plips of rain on the roof."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Shortened from the name of Paul Lipschutz, French inventor.

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic.

Etymology 3

From Plip (“remote control locking device”), perhaps influenced by onomatopoeia.

Related phrases

motor vehicleremote control

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.