hep
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L337320 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /hɛp/
adj
Etymology: US slang of unknown or disputed origin, first recorded 1903. Robert Gold suggested that it is a variant of hip, from white jazz fans’ mishearing African American musicians. Jonathon Green suggests a connection to a 19th century interjection used to drive horses; compare gee up.
- Aware, up-to-date.
“I was pleased, as I put him hep on the Wilbert-Phyllis situation and revealed the part he was expected to play in it, to note that he showed no signs of being about to issue the presidential veto.”
- Cool, hip, sophisticated.
“And I was struck to notice that though the band was only Jumble imitation of our style, it was quite a hep combination, with some feel of the beat, not like those dreadful records of the English bands I'd heard back home which never can play slow, and never can play easy to the limbs.”
intj
Etymology: From German hep or Hepp-Hepp, an interjection used to attack Jewish people. The origin of the German source is unknown, but may come from a goatherd’s call.
- A rallying cry in attacks on the Jewish people.
“Let us hope that the modern “Hep-Hep” cry of Antisemitism of to-day will be accompanied by a similar level of Judaism.”
noun
Etymology: Alteration of hip.
- A hip of a rose; a rosehip.
verb
Etymology: US slang of unknown or disputed origin, first recorded 1903. Robert Gold suggested that it is a variant of hip, from white jazz fans’ mishearing African American musicians. Jonathon Green suggests a connection to a 19th century interjection used to drive horses; compare gee up.
- To make aware of.
“I hepped him to the situation.”