blip

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A small dot registered on electronic equipment, such as a radar or oscilloscope screen.

   • When the blip began to move up the oscilloscope screen, they followed again.
   • At 6:45 pm, the chief officer saw a blip on the radar, approximately seven nautical miles away.
   • Due to the fact that she’d explored over 30% of the forest enemies were now displayed as blips on her map.
2. 2

   A short sound of a single pitch, usually electronically generated.

   • Blip..Blip..Blip..Blip / There was that annoying noise again. Anger entered my subconscious as the dream came to an abrupt end.
3. 3

   A brief and usually minor aberration or deviation from what is expected or normal.

   • There's a chance this is just a viral blip, an intermittent spike of low-level virus that just happens in people on successful HIV treatment.
   • As a cell moves through the aperture it causes a blip (a brief change) in the voltage when the nonconductive cell briefly displaces the conductive medium.
   • Barack Obama had become exasperated by the propensity of the party establishment to panic at every psephological blip.
4. ›+ 5 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      An individual message or document in the Google Wave software framework.

      • When a participant has full access permissions to a wave, he or she can change the contents of all blips and reply within or after blips.
      • Although the wiki-like editing capabilities of Google Wave represent a valuable feature, there is some debate about whether participants should edit other participants' blips or their own blips.
   2. 5

      To make a short beep sound.

      • The door blipped as I showed my electronic identity card and passed through.
   3. 6

      To change state abruptly, such as between off and on or dark and light, sometimes…

      To change state abruptly, such as between off and on or dark and light, sometimes implying motion.

      • The screen blipped out as the connection was terminated. […] A few seconds passed before the screen again blipped to life, but instead of Melissa's radiant face there was a man in obvious security garb staring at him.
   4. 7

      Synonym of bleep (“to replace offending words in a broadcast recording with a tone”).

      • […] even walking off his own show once after an NBC censor had arbitrarily blipped a mildly risque joke from the day's tape.
   5. 8

      To apply the throttle briefly when downshifting, to provide a smoother gear transition…

      To apply the throttle briefly when downshifting, to provide a smoother gear transition and prevent wheelspin.

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