Dictionary entry

Dip (3)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Dip, n. 1. The action of dipping or plunging for a moment into a liquid. “The dip of oars in unison.” Glover.

2. Inclination downward; direction below a horizontal line; slope; pitch.

3. A liquid, as a sauce or gravy, served at table with a ladle or spoon. Bartlett.

4. A dipped candle. Marryat.

Dip of the horizon(Astron.), the angular depression of the seen or visible horizon below the true or natural horizon; the angle at the eye of an observer between a horizontal line and a tangent drawn from the eye to the surface of the ocean. — Dip of the needle, orMagnetic dip, the angle formed, in a vertical plane, by a freely suspended magnetic needle, or the line of magnetic force, with a horizontal line; — called also inclination. — Dip of a stratum(Geol.), its greatest angle of inclination to the horizon, or that of a line perpendicular to its direction or strike; — called also the pitch.