Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Informal A piece of confidential, advance, or inside information.
- n. Informal An indication of an otherwise unknown fact or probability: The judge called for a pitcher of water, a tip-off that the session would be long.
- n. Basketball An act of starting play at the beginning of a period with a jump ball. Also called tap-off.
Wiktionary
- n. idiomatic An obvious clue or indication.
- n. idiomatic A report of suspicious behaviour, especially to an authority.
WordNet 3.0
- n. inside information that something is going to happen
- n. the act of starting a basketball game with a jump ball
Etymologies
- tip3 + (kick)off. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Sticking to his routine before big games at home, James was the first player to arrive and was on the floor more than three hours before tip-off.”
“Another tip-off about her attitude is that later that year, she commissioned a painting of her lord chamberlain by Mr. Mortimer.”
“A number of years ago I saw a play, The Exonerated the title's a tip-off, directed by the multi-talented writer/actor/director/producer Bob Balaban.”
The Huffington Post: Roger Smith: It's Too Late for Troy Davis, But It's Not Too Late for Us
“Also, gone is the claustrophobic paranoia ... replaced by a trio of aliens bent on hopping from host to host, leaving behind hollowed-out human skin shells (an obvious tip-off to the characters) in order to accomplish their secret mission.”
“Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung said Thai authorities received a tip-off before New Year's of a planned attack, which was said to target Israelis.”
The Huffington Post: Thailand: U.S. Embassy Warns Of Possible Terrorist Attack In Bangkok
“To recap, in case you just got back from the Hamptons, a few weeks ago Blodget suggested on his Business Insider website that Bank of America might need to raise anywhere from $100 billion to $200 billion in new capital -- that wide spread should have been a tip-off to the rigor of the analysis -- based on information he had gleaned from two financial blogs, Naked Capitalism and Zero Hedge.”
“While the angel is a thrill of no trivial dimension, she's also a tip-off to Kushner's billowing excesses.”
“The biggest tip-off that it is not a lease is the fact that YOU pay the annual predial - property taxes - to the local government, which doesn't even show that the property is held in trust.”
“Instead, those environmentalists had another idea — they would tip-off some of their close friends and launch Chevron's campaign for them.”
The Huffington Post: Rebecca Tarbotton: Does Chevron Think We're All Stupid?
“The tip-off is that neither Kelly nor Cohen informed the Bureau before or after contacting him.”
The Huffington Post: Len Levitt: Kelly vs. the FBI: Round 17,000
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