1821. Haggart, Life, p. 23. Barney made a very unceremonious flip
at the bit.
Verb (thieves’).—To shoot.
1819. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood (ed. 1864), p. 273. Flip him, Dick; fire,
or I’m taken.
To flip up, verb. phr. (American).—To spin a coin.
1879. New York Tribune, 4 Oct. The two great men could flip up to
see which should have the second place.
Flip-Flap, subs. 1 (old).—A flighty creature.
1702. Vanbrugh, False Friend. 1. The light airy flip-flap, she
kills him with her motions.
2. (popular). A step-dance; a cellar-flap (q.v.). Also (acrobats’); a
kind of somersault, in which the performer throws himself over on his
hands and feet alternately.
1727. Gay, Fables, ‘Two Monkies.’ The tumbler whirls the flip-flap
round. With sommersets he shakes the ground.
1872. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. There ain’t nothing you
can’t do, Morty, from Shylock to a flip-flap.
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 12 Nov., p. 6, col. 2. There were the
clowns who danced, turned somersaults, flip-flaps, and contorted
themselves.