usually in phr. let her rip: also to rip and stave. Whence ripper = a tearer; to rip and tear = to be furious; to rip out = to explode; also as an oath, rip me! = Blast me! (q.v.).
1600. Decker, Shom. Holiday [Works (1873), i. 29]. Auaunt kitchin-stuffe, rippe, you browne bread tannikin, out of my sight.
1848. Jones, Sketches of Travels, 78. He ripped out an oath that made the hair stand on my head.
1869. H. B. Stowe, Old Town Folks, 607. If she don't do nothing more . . . why, I say, let 'er rip.
1877. Temple Bar, May, 209. It has its drawbacks, the principal of which is a growing tolerance of misrule and misconduct in office. "Let him rip," is a common verdict; "we can turn him out when his time is up."
1885. Stevenson, Prince Otto, ii. 7. 'You may leave the table,' he added, his temper ripping out.
1895. Marriott-Watson [New Review, 2 July]. "Rip me," says he, starting up, "d'ye think I could not ha' been in the job myself?"
2. (old).—To search; to rummage: espec. with a view to plunder; hence (3) to steal. Ripper = a robber.
[. . . .]. Ormulum, 10,212. To rippenn hemm and ræfenn.
c.1388. Towneley Myst., 112. Com and rype oure howse, and then may ye se Who had hir.
[. . . .]. Robin Hood and Beggar [Child, Ballads, v. 190]. And loose the strings of all thy pocks, I'll ripe them with my hand.
1816. Scott, Old Mortality, xxiii. I e'en riped his pouches, as he had dune mony an honester man's.
Ripe, adj. and adv. (common).—1.
Drunk; and (2) ready.
1609. Shakspeare, Tempest, v. 1. Trinculo is reeling ripe: where should they find this grand liquor that hath gilded 'em?
c.1615. Fletcher, Woman's Prize, i. 1. Do all the ramping, roaring tricks a whore, Being drunk and tumbling-ripe.
d.1704. Brown, Works, i. 272. To show you how soon the Women of this age grow ripe. . . .
1821. Egan, Life in London, 178. Jerry was now ripe for anything.
1842. Tennyson, Poems, 'Will Water-proof.' Half mused or reeling-ripe.
Ripon (or Rippon), subs. (old).—1.
A spur; and (2) a sword.
[The Yorkshire City was formerly
famous for its fine steel.]—Grose
(1785).
1625. Jonson, Staple of News, i. 3. Why there's an angel, if my spurs Be not right Rippon.
1636. Wits [Dodsley, Old Plays (Reed), viii. 501]. Whip me with wire, headed with rowels of Sharp Rippon spurs.
Ripper, subs. (colloquial).—Anything
especial: a good ball
(cricket); a knock-down blow
(pugilistic); a fine woman; an
outrageous lie, &c. Hence ripping
= great, excellent, stunning
(q.v.).
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., 1. 237. The . . . battle between the two young ladies of fortune is what we call a ripper.
1877. Belgravia, xxxii. 241. Mr. Wilkie Collins's last novel is a ripping book.
1881. Howells, Dr. Breen's Practice, ii. Barlow says it's the hottest day he's ever seen here. . . . "It's a ripper."
1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, i. What a ripping race it was.
1892. Nisbet, Bushranger's Sweetheart, 209. 'How are you getting on with her?' 'Rippingly as far as she is concerned.'
1896. Cotsford Dick, Ways of World, 53. He calls the sunrise a 'rippin show.'
Ripping, subs. (Eton College).—A
ceremony incidental to the departure
of a Senior Colleger for
King's College, Cambridge: when
