to lip off
1
8.9
- phrasal verb
- /lɪp ɔf/
- Informal
:
hablar de manera grosera
- If you keep lipping off to your parents, they will take away your privileges.
Examples
-
No matter what he says, nobody lip off.
-
My cousin would still be lipping off while he got the switch.
Blog text (23) -
Don't lip off to the teacher if you want to pass the class.
-
I got in trouble at school for lipping off during the assembly.
Synonyms
95
4.2
To say rude or insulting words to someone to hurt them
46
5.4
Reply rudely to someone in charge like a teacher or boss
28
8.3
To speak rudely and loudly to a person in charge
16
8.4
Answer a person in charge in a rude, cheeky way
8
8.4
Talk back to someone in a rude way
3
8.6
To speak rudely to someone
How Rude
- Offensive
95
4.2
- Offensive
543
2.1
- Informal
1
8.9
- Informal
46
5.4
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
lip + off
The noun 'lip' (in its colloquial sense of impudent speech) supplies the main idea of rude or cheeky talk, so a learner who knows that sense could plausibly infer the MWE refers to speaking disrespectfully. However, the particle 'off' does not clearly add a predictable compositional meaning and many learners only know 'lip' as a body part, so the full idiomatic usage is only partially predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Lip off comes from the picture of someone using their mouth to answer back. Here lip is the mouth and off shows saying something openly or without holding back, so the phrase means 'to speak rudely or disrespectfully', often to someone in authority.