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Forms: 5 syppy(n, cyppyn, 6 syppe; 5, 7 sippe (5 scippe), 6- sip. [Of obscure origin; possibly a modification of sup intended to express a slighter action.
Kilian's ‘Sippen, pitissare, sorbillare’ is not otherwise certified, and is rendered suspicious by his citing ‘Ang. sippe’; but a LG. sippen in the same sense is given in the Bremisches Wörterbuch, and appears to be genuine.]
1. intr. To take up liquid in small quantities with the lips; to drink by a sip or sips; freq. with of (a specified liquid, etc.). Also in fig. contexts.
c1386 CHAUCER Wife's Prol. 176 Than maystow chese, wheither thou wolt sippe Of that tonne that I shal abroche.
14.. Lat.-Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 604
Potisso, to syppy.
c1440 Promp. Parv. 456/2 Syppyn,
now
t fully drynke,
potisso, subbibo.
1530 PALSGR. 719/1 Syppe on, Cysse, and tell me what it is.
1584-7 GREENE Carde Fancie Wks. (Grosart) IV. 162 Yea, let thy Concubine Castania..to sippe of the same sorrow.
1602 SHAKES. Ham. IV. vii. 161 Ile haue prepar'd him A Challice..; whereon but sipping,..Our purpose may hold there.
a1628 PRESTON Breastpl. Love (1631) 182 Yee doe here but sippe of this cuppe, but then ye shall drinke up the dreggs of it for ever.
1687 A. LOVELL tr.
Thevenot's Trav. I. 33 They all drink it sipping for fear of scalding themselves.
1733 POPE Hor. Sat. II. i. 47 Ridotta sips and dances, till she see The doubling Lustres dance as fast as she.
1780 COWPER Progr. Err. 581 With caution taste the sweet Circean cup; He that sips often, at last drinks it up.
1789 
Annus Mem. 18 As the bee..Assiduous sips at ev'ry flow'r.
1810 SOUTHEY Kehama XXIV. v, As a man in social hour Sips of the grateful cup.
1859 DICKENS T. Two Cities I. v, Who bent over their shoulders, to sip, before the wine had all run out.
transf. 1601 B. JONSON Poetaster III. i, As many as haue but the..audacitie
to
sip of their lips.
1871 Athenæum 26 Aug. 273 The whole French nation..sip in drinking, they sip in reading, and they sip their work.
2. trans. To drink (liquid, etc.) in very small draughts; to imbibe, or partake of, by sipping. Said also of bees, etc.
1611 COTGR.,
Humé, supped, sipped, or sucked vp [etc.].
a1650 CRASHAW Carmen Deo Nostro, Mary Magd. v, Every morn from hence A brisk Cherub somthing sippes.
1662 R. MATHEW Unl. Alch. 191 Drink one quarter of a pint as hot as you can sip it.
1697 DRYDEN Virg. Georg. III. 505 Let 'em sip from Herbs the pearly tears Of Morning Dews.
1746 HERVEY Medit. (1818) 187 Bees, industrious workmen! that..sip the mellifluous dews.
1784 COWPER Task III. 391 He enjoys..Sweet converse, sipping calm the fragrant lymph Which neatly she prepares.
1825 LAMB Elia II.
Wedding, None told his tale. None sipt her glass.
1848 THACKERAY Van. Fair lxii, The knowing way in which he sipped, or rather sucked, the Johannisberger.
1886 PASCOE Lond. of To-day xl. (ed. 3) 350 The places where ladies go to eat creams..and sip coffee.
b. fig. and transf.
1602 MARSTON Ant. & Mel. v. Wks. 1856 I. 67 Weele drinke a health, while they two sip a kisse.
c1614 SIR W. MURE Dido & Æneas I. 274 The shippe..sinking sippes the seas, by weight downe borne.
1632 MILTON Penseroso 172 And every Herb that sips the dew.
1769 SIR W. JONES Palace Fortune Poems (1777) 13 The maid attentive sips Each word that flows, like nectar, from her lips.
1871 [see sense 1 transf.].
c. With advs., as off, up.
1656 EARL OF MONMOUTH tr.
Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. I. (1674) 50 The Macedonians..thought to have sipt up every mans State in less than a moneths time.
a1763 W. KING Polit. & Lit. Anecd. (1819) 13 Pope had sipped up all the brandy.
1863 W. C. BALDWIN Afr. Hunting vii. 278 A large spoonful of mustard in a pint of warm water, which he sipped off like coffee!
d. fig. To take a mere taste of (something).
1618 BOLTON Florus 105 That he might not seeme to have once sipt or skimd the honour of their Chastity.
1639 FULLER Holy War III. xiv. (1840) 139 Pleasures he rather sipped than drank off.
3. To take honey from (a flower) by sipping.
1697 DRYDEN Virg. Georg. IV. 76 The winged Nation..skim the Floods, and sip the purple Flow'rs.
1727 GAY Beggar's Opera I. i, My heart..roved like the bee,..I sipt each flower.
1878 J. MILLER Songs of Italy 81, I should sip but one, this one Sweet flower underneath the sun.
4. refl. To bring (oneself) into a certain state by sipping.
1823 SCOTT Quentin D. Introd., I gradually sipped and smoked myself into a certain degree of acquaintance with
un homme comme il faut.
Hence 
sipping ppl. a.
1670 EACHARD Cont. Clergy 31 That would much better fit some old soker..than his sipping..bibbership.
1871 N. SHEPPARD Shut up in Paris 246 This sip, sip, sipping race have been devoured by a race which does nothing by sips.
1898 Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 993 Then peptonized milk..may be swallowed in sipping fashion.
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