pimp

pimp

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɪmp/
  • Rhymes: -ɪmp
  • Audio (Canada):(file)

Etymology 1

Origin unknown. Perhaps from French pimpant (“smart, sparkish”) or German Pimpf (“a boy, a youth, a young squirt”). The Old English near-synonym was rendered by Old English forspennend (literally “a solicitor”).

Noun

pimp (plural pimps)

  1. Someone who solicits customers for prostitution and acts as manager for a group of prostitutes; a pander.
  2. (African-American Vernacular, slang) A man who can easily attract women.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

pimp (third-person singular simple present pimps, present participle pimping, simple past and past participle pimped)

  1. (intransitive) To act as a procurer of prostitutes; to pander.
    Synonym: procure
  2. (transitive) To prostitute someone.
    Synonyms: hustle, whore out; see also Thesaurus:pimp out
    The smooth-talking, tall man with heavy gold bracelets claimed he could pimp anyone.
  3. (transitive, African-American Vernacular, slang) To excessively customize something, especially a vehicle.
    Synonyms: pimp out, pimp up; mack out
    Coordinate terms: level up, max out, spec out, spec up, trick out
    You pimped out that motorcycle f'real, dawg.
  4. (transitive, medicine, slang) To ask progressively harder and ultimately unanswerable questions of a resident or medical student (said of a senior member of the medical staff).
    • 2004, Robert A. Blume, Arthur W. Combs, The Continuing American Revolution: A Psychological Perspective, page 183:
      Only an attending physician can pimp a chief resident; the chief resident and attending can pimp a junior resident; they all three can pimp an intern.
  5. (transitive, US, slang) To promote, to tout.
    Synonyms: pitch, promote, spruik, tout
    I gotta show you this sweet website where you can pimp your blog and get more readers.
    • 1990 February 4, Leonard Tirado, “Privatized 'Recovery' Versus Collective Action”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 19:
      The trendy rehabs being pimped by the addiction industry's glossy PR.
  6. (US, slang) To persuade, smooth talk or trick another into doing something for your benefit.
    Synonyms: bewile, convince; see also Thesaurus:deceive, Thesaurus:persuade
    I pimped her out of $2,000 and she paid for the entire stay at the Bahamas.
Derived terms
Translations

Adjective

pimp

  1. (slang) Excellent, fashionable, stylish.

See also

Further reading

Etymology 2

From Brythonic numerals, from Proto-Brythonic *pɨmp.

Cognate with Welsh pump, Cornish pymp, Breton pemp. Doublet of cinque, fin (“five currency units”), finnuf, five, ponzu, punch (“beverage”), and sengi (“currency”); related to Pompeii.

Numeral

pimp

  2. (Cumbria and Old Welsh) Five in Cumbrian and Welsh sheep counting.
See also

References

  • Wright, Peter (1995), Cumbrian Chat, Dalesman Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 7
  • Deakin, Michael A.B. (2007), Leigh-Lancaster, David, editor, The Name of the Number‎[2], Australian Council for Educational Research, →ISBN, retrieved 17 May 2008, page 75
  • Varvogli, Aliki (2002), Annie Proulx's The Shipping News: A Reader's Guide‎[3], Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, retrieved 17 May 2008, pages 24-25

Anagrams

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