whip

noun

• 1a strip of leather or length of cord fastened to a handle, used for flogging or beating a person or for urging on an animal.
• a blow with a whip or similar implement.
• used to refer to something causing pain or acting as a stimulus to action:the team management had decided to crack the whip on player indiscipline

• 2an official of a political party appointed to maintain parliamentary discipline among its members, especially so as to ensure attendance and voting in debates.
• British a written notice from a whip requesting attendance for voting. See also three-line whip.
• (the whip) British membership of the group of MPs that form the official, elected representation of a particular political party, together with the duties or rights associated with such membership:he resigned the Tory whip in protest at mine closures

• 3 [mass noun] a dessert consisting of cream or eggs beaten into a light fluffy mass with fruit, chocolate, or other ingredients.

• 4short for whipper-in.

• 5a slender, unbranched shoot or plant.

• 6 [with modifier] North American a scythe for cutting specified crops:a grass whip

• 7a rope-and-pulley hoisting apparatus.

verb (whips, whipping, whipped)

• 1beat (a person or animal) with a whip or similar instrument, especially as a punishment or to urge them on:Lewis whipped the boy twenty times
• (of a flexible object or rain or wind) strike or beat violently:the wind whipped their faces
• informal (of a player or team) defeat (a person or team) heavily in a sporting contest: he whipped the Brazilian 6-1, 6-2, 6-3

• 2 [no object, with adverbial of direction] move fast or suddenly in a specified direction:he whipped round to face them
• [with object and adverbial of direction] take out or move (something) fast or suddenly:he whipped out his revolver and shot him

• 3beat (cream, eggs, or other food) into a froth.

• 4British informal steal (something):the escaper had whipped his overcoat

• 5bind (something) with spirally wound twine: the side linings are whipped or hemmed
• sew or gather (something) with overcast stitches: she began whipping narrow lace along the top of the garment