/vɪp/ (now rare).V.I.P.n.
/viː ʌɪ ˈpiː//vɪp/ (now rare). A very important person, esp. a high-ranking guest. Frequently Military slang in early use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [noun] > one who is important > one of high rank
statec1449
top people1752
anybody1802
celestitude1824
big bug1826
wig1828
celestiality1837
(the) salt of the earth1842
high-up1882
big-timer1917
V.I.P.1933
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > good repute > reputability or honourableness > [noun] > person or people
man of worship1340
worthya1393
anybody1802
prince1864
(the) clean potato1880
righto1908
V.I.P.1933
α.
β. 1945 Fortune Aug. 161 Very important persons, or ‘Vips’, usually travel in plush C-54's.1968 Listener 22 Aug. 243/1 ‘Provided you are a Vip,’ he added, joining the initials so that they formed a word. I was rather intrigued by this and asked him to explain what he meant by Vip, the meaning of which I feigned ignorance of. ‘A Vip,’ he said, ‘is what in the days of you British used to be called a bara sahib, a senior official, but now we have been ordered to use this new Hindi word.’1933 C. Mackenzie Water on Brain viii. 111 ‘At the moment he has a V.I.P. with him’... Miss Glidden seemed to divine his perplexity, for..she turned round and whispered through a pursed up mouth, ‘Very Important Personage’.
1945 Daily Mirror 11 Aug. 5/4 Then they started pouring buckets of water on the crowds below..until a very important person happened along. The VIP got a bucketful all to himself... The VIP was a brigadier.
1946 E. Waugh Diary 31 Mar. (1976) vi. 645 I found I had been categorized VIP—Very Important Person. It seemed odd to be asked ‘Are you a VIP?’
1953 J. Pudney Ring for Luck 19 A sophisticated traveller, something of a V.I.P., expecting to be met and seen off wherever he went.
1964 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 24 Mar. (1970) 98 There were about three hundred people in front of the platform—VIP's from Huntsville.
1980 J. Ditton Copley's Hunch iii. 221 For their own safety—as with all VIPs—their going had to be kept secret.
Compounds
attributive, esp. as V.I.P. lounge, V.I.P. treatment.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [noun] > one who is important > treatment of important person
V.I.P. treatment1945
society > travel > air or space travel > airfield or airport > [noun] > airport > terminal building > lounge for passengers
transit lounge1944
departure1948
arrival lounge1949
V.I.P. lounge1967
1945 Yank 24 Aug. 6 The private was told by a general who had just left the VIP mess hall that ‘I had a wonderful dinner’.
1958 New Statesman 22 Feb. 242/3 Mr Nutting, for example, was given the alpha-plus VIP treatment.
1967 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 3 Aug. (1970) 552 We drove up to an entrance and went quickly into a small VIP lounge where they shut the door.
1980 G. McDonald Snatched i. 8 I explained the situation to the head stewardess in the V.I.P. lounge.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online December 2018).
> as lemmas
VIP
VIP n. vasoactive intestinal (poly)peptide.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > action of nervous system > [noun] > reception or transmission of impulses > transmitters
rectifier1895
transmitter1930
sympathin1931
noradrenaline1932
neurohumour1933
substance P1934
norepinephrine1937
neurohormone1939
neurosecretion1956
neurophysin1958
vasoactive intestinal (poly)peptide1958
neurotransmitter1961
VIP1972
neuropeptide1973
1972 Bioorganic Chem. II. 30 (heading) Synthesis of the vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP).
1972 Bioorganic Chem. II. 87 Information on partial sequences of VIP became available recently.
1983 R. G. Long et al. in D. J. Weatherall et al. Oxf. Textbk. Med. I. xii. 50/1 VIP secretion has been demonstrated after direct neural stimulation.
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n.1933as lemmas