Etymology: Apparently < early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic hrip box or basket used to carry peat or other substances on horseback (only in the compounds móhrip , torfhrip , whose first element means ‘peat’), Norwegian (Nynorsk) rip kind of pannier), probably cognate with German regional (Low German) rep basket, Old High German href , ref basket (Middle High German ref , German (now regional) Reff pannier, trough for animal fodder), further etymology uncertain; probably related to either crib n. or corf n.¹ However, the (post-medieval) currency of the word in south-eastern counties outside the Danelaw area is surprising in a word of Scandinavian origin. Sense 2 appears to be an innovation from entirely outside the Danelaw; apart from the examples from Surrey and Sussex, Eng. Dial. Dict. at rip(p also records use from the west midlands. Compare also later rippier n.

Etymology: Apparently a variant of reap n.¹, with sporadic late shortening of original long open ē after it had been raised as a result of the Great Vowel Shift (compare A. J. Aitken & C. Macafee Older Sc. Vowels (2002) §5.3.(i), and also the form rip at reap n.¹ β. forms, which, given its very different provenance, may show a parallel but independent development).The form ripe is difficult to explain; perhaps compare clype v. Sc. National Dict. (at cited word) records the word as still in use in Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Banffshire, and Berwickshire in 1968.

Etymology: < rip v.¹ Compare Dutch rep , rip jerk (early 19th cent., originally in met een rep in one go), Dutch regional (West Flanders) rip , rippe rent, tear (late 19th cent.). In sense 2 shortened < ripsaw n.In sense 4, the explanation as an acronym (see quot. 1990) is probably a later rationalization.

Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps < rip v.¹ (the device being so called on account of the movement of the scythe against it), although this would not account for the β. forms. Compare also earlier rifle n.¹, which is close in meaning, but not easily reconcilable in form.

Etymology: Probably partly shortened < ripple n.⁵, partly shortened < riprap n., and perhaps also partly directly < rip v.¹

Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps a variant of rep n.³, with raising of the vowel. If rep n.³ is shortened < reprobate n., the appearance of sense 1 earlier than sense 2 is probably accidental.The passage from Mrs Thrale quoted in quot. 1781 at sense 2a continues ‘tis taken from the Ripieno Men that serve to fill up a Concert or Chorus’ (compare ripieno adj. 2), but this probably shows a mistaken rationalization.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. A number of verbs in other Germanic languages show at least partial semantic overlap, but the relationships among these are very uncertain, and it is likely that some of them show full or partial merger of verbs of distinct origins. In the earliest meaning ‘to tear’ probably showing a borrowing from a form with similar meaning in either a continental West Germanic language or a North Germanic language (see forms listed below); these perhaps ultimately reflect a formation on an ablaut variant of the same Germanic base as reap v.¹; compare also ripple v.¹, ripple v.² The other senses may all ultimately show developments from this. Senses relating to rapid movement (see sense 6) are of late first occurrence in English, and may simply show the same metaphorical development as is shown earlier by tear v.¹ 9, although it is notable that a number of verbs of similar form in other Germanic languages show similar meanings. Perhaps compare also repe v.¹ and the Germanic verbs cited at that entry, and also rap v.¹, rap v.³, rape v.¹ In West Germanic languages, compare: (i) Dutch (now regional: Southern) reppen , (regional: Flanders) rippen to steal (something) (1588 in Kiliaan), to tear or pull (something) violently (1613; now obsolete); also Dutch regional (Flanders) rippen to tear off, strip off roughly (19th cent.); perhaps compare also Middle Dutch rippen to move, to cause to move (especially abruptly or violently), to touch (something), to touch upon (a matter) in discourse, (used reflexively) to hurry, make haste, and Dutch reppen , (regional: Western) rippen to move, to cause to move, to hoist (a sail), to touch, handle (something) (occasionally also ‘to handle (a person or thing) violently, use force against (a person or thing)’), to speak, to utter (a word, speech), (used reflexively) to hurry, make haste; however, in these cases the -i- forms are probably merely variants (with vowel raising) of the more usual reppen (see repe v.¹); (ii) Middle Low German reppen , rēpen , (rare) reffen to move, to touch, handle, to touch upon, speak on (a topic), to rake (a matter) up (German regional (Low German) reppen , rippen to move, to stir, to cause to move); perhaps compare also Middle Low German (rare) rīpen to rob, plunder (tentatively given in Mittelniederdeutsches Handwörterbuch as a variant of reppen , but perhaps rather a cognate of ripe v.²). In North Germanic, compare: (i) Faroese rippa to tear, to pull violently; (ii) Norwegian rippa, (now usually) rippe to hurry, to run away, to move (things); Norwegian rippe opp to rake up, revive (memories); Norwegian regional rippe to scale fish (it is possible that these may represent several distinct verbs); also Norwegian (regional) ribba to pluck, pull out (feathers), ripa to scratch, score, to tear off, pluck; (iii) Old Swedish rippa to move, to cause to move, (also as reppa) to bring (a matter) up for consideration again, to rake (a matter) up (Swedish repa, (now regional) ripa to scratch, to score, to strike (a match) against a hard surface, to pluck, pull, rip, tear, to clean (flax, grapes, vegetables, etc.) from dirt or impurities, (used reflexively) to revive, to regain one's health after an illness, (now obsolete; also †reppa, †rippa, †räppa) to bring (a matter) up for consideration again, to rake (a matter) up), which may partly represent a borrowing from Middle Low German; (iv) early modern Danish ribbe, rebbe, rippe (Danish ribbe, (now regional and rare) rippe) to pluck, to pull, to ripple (flax), (with preposition op and as prefixed verb oprippe) to rake up (a matter).Earlier currency in sense 3b is probably implied by Anglo-Norman ripper (in ripper tiles, c1416 in the accounts of the Merchant Taylors), apparently showing an isolated borrowing of the English word. Compare Middle French riper, French riper, †ripper to curry (a horse) (1328 in an isolated attestation in a text from Liège, subsequently from 1623), to scrape (1690, with reference to smoothing a stone with a metal instrument before polishing it more finely), either a loan < Middle Dutch rippen, or perhaps representing the reflex of an earlier borrowing of an (unattested) Germanic form from the same base as the Middle Dutch verb.