beepn.
/biːp/, U.S. /bip/ The sound made by a horn on a motor car or other vehicle; a short high-pitched sound such as is emitted by an echo-sounder, a radar device, etc. Also attributive.
ΚΠ
1951 A. C. Clarke Sands of Mars iv. 45 The carrier wave..now modulated into an endless string of ‘beep-beep-beeps’.
1952 A. C. Clarke Islands in Sky iv. 72 A Beeper..is a tiny radar set..used to locate objects that have drifted away from the Station... When its beam hits anything you hear a series of ‘Beeps’.
1957 Economist 2 Nov. 399/1 A four-stage research rocket..sent back beeps.
1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio vii. 131 Time signal pips or ‘beep’ tones: the very words ‘pip’ and ‘beep’ suggest the effect I mean.
Derivatives
beep-beep n. such a (reduplicated) sound; also concr., a horn.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > sound of horn > [noun]
seekc1500
poopa1556
gibbet1590
honking1844
tra-ra1900
hoot1904
honk1905
honk-honk1908
klaxoning1922
beep-beep1929
parp1936
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > sound of horn > [noun] > horn or hooter
post-horna1652
steam-trumpet1801
blast-horn1844
fish-horn1856
hooter1878
klaxon1910
beep-beep1929
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > unpleasant quality > shrill quality > [noun] > thin and shrill sound > bleep or pip
pip-pip1909
meep1927
beep-beep1929
pip1929
bleep1953
bleeping1957
peep1957
wheep1984
1929 E. Wilson I thought of Daisy v. 299 Did you ever hear them talk about auto-horns?.. There's a toot-toot, and a beep-beep.
1937 N. Marsh Vintage Murder xxii. 250 This horn is called a ‘beep-beep’.
1956 J. Potts Diehard vii. 109 The ritual beep-beep of his horn... Two brief, muted beeps.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
beepv.
/biːp/, U.S. /bip/ 1. transitive. To sound (a horn); to make (something) emit a short high-pitched sound; to indicate by sounding beeps.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > unpleasant quality > shrill quality > shrill [verb (transitive)] > beep
beep1936
1936 O. Nash Primrose Path 101 Beep the horn and howl the klaxon For Hebrew, Latin and Anglo-Saxon; Howling klaxon, beeping horn.
1953 F. Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth Space Merchants (1955) xiii. 140 He went pale, but beeped his alarm, and went down in a tangle of fists and boots.
2. intransitive. To emit beeps.
ΚΠ
1958 New Scientist 16 Oct. 1060/1 The first Russian moon rose beeping into the sky a year ago.
Derivatives
beeped adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > unpleasant quality > shrill quality > [adjective] > thin and shrill > bleep or pip
pipping1923
bleeping1957
beeping1958
beeped1962
1962 Flight Internat. 81 299/1 An Aero Commander was fitted with Lear L-5B autopilot (modified for close pitch control, decrabbing and ‘beeped’ pitch trim).
ˈbeeping adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > unpleasant quality > shrill quality > [adjective] > thin and shrill > bleep or pip
pipping1923
bleeping1957
beeping1958
beeped1962
1958 Pop. Mech. June 218/2 Oceanographers in the Atlantic sank ‘beeping buoys’ to preset depths and tracked them as they drifted.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1929v.1936