gyp

Meanings

1. A cheat or swindle; a rip-off.
2. Synonym of gypsy (“contra dance step”).

1. To cheat or swindle.

1. A domestic servant, generally male, who would attend upon (usually several) students, brushing their clothes, carrying parcels, waiting at parties and other tasks; generally equivalent to a scout in the historical sense at Oxford University or a skip at Trinity College, Dublin.
2. The room in which such college servants work.
3. A small kitchen for use by college students.

1. Gypsophila.

1. Pain or discomfort.

Etymology

Perhaps from the term gypsy (“Roma”), due to a stereotype of the Roma as swindlers. Compare jew (“defraud”), from Jew, and welsh (“swindle by defaulting on a debt”), from Welsh. Could also be derived from dupe, with the same pattern (yod coalescence) as idiot becomes eejit in Scottish English.