eep
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /iːp/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ip/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -iːp
Etymology 1
Imitative.
Interjection
eep
- (onomatopoeia) An expression of surprise or dismay.
- 1993, “Bart's Inner Child”, in The Simpsons[1]:
- Hot-dog vendor: "Get him!"
Bart: "Eep."
- 2000, Adam Cadre, Ready, Okay!, New York: Harper Collins, →ISBN, →OCLC:
- Then she ripped the door off its hinges and bent the flimsy metal in half between her hands.
"Eep," I said.
- 2000, John Palisano, Journey Through Time, Authorhouse, →ISBN, page 9:
- On the opposite side a bottle crashed. Shards twinkle screamed in a circle around her head. “Eep,” she said, breathed, and nearly screamed.
Synonyms
- (expression of surprise): See Thesaurus:wow
- (expression of dismay): yikes, see Thesaurus:wow
See also
Noun
eep (plural eeps)
- A short scream or yelp.
- 1853, Charles Fenno Hoffman, Timothy Flint, Lewis Gaylord Clark, Kinahan Cornwallis, John Holmes Agnew, editors, The Knickerbocker, page 460:
- "Then the peepers begin on a high key, with a singularly sweet and lucid voice, somewhere betwixt a silver-whistle and a glass-bell, smacking little of the mid: 'Eep!-eep-eep-eep! ee ee-ee! eepee! eepee-peepee! peep-eep! eepepee! eepepee! eepepee!' accompanied by a few trills long continued..."
- 2002, Randy Peyser, Crappy to Happy, Red Wheel, →ISBN, page 29:
- She encouraged them to express their teeny-tiniest selves with an “eep.”
Verb
eep (third-person singular simple present eeps, present participle eeping, simple past and past participle eeped)
- To vocalise a short scream or yelp; to produce an eep.
- 2002, Randy Peyser, Crappy to Happy, Red Wheel, →ISBN, page 29:
- Now there are fulfilled women happily “eeping” all over the Bay Area. I swear to you this is true.
- 2002, Chris Crutcher, “The Other Pin”, in Athletic Shorts, Harper Collins, →ISBN, page 75:
- Petey’s voice rises to that preadolescent pitch it always hits when he feels his life spinning out of control. “Dues are what Boy Scouts pay,” he eeps.
- 2003, John Treadwell Nichols, The Voice of the Butterfly, →ISBN, page 160:
- Before I could answer, a tiny green krait dropped out of Tristan’s nostril and slithered swiftly toward Susan’s sandaled feet: She eeped, dropped my arm, and fled for her life.
Etymology 2
Back-formation from eepy.
Noun
eep (countable and uncountable, plural eeps)
Verb
eep (third-person singular simple present eeps, present participle eeping, simple past and past participle eeped or ept)