1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I., 20. I might have cleft her water-gap
And joined it close with my flip-flap.
Flipper, subs. (nautical and common). 1. The hand. Tip us your flipper
= give me your hand. [From the flipper or paddle of a turtle.] For
synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Lay of St. Gengulphus.’ With
those great sugar-nippers they nipp’d off his flippers, As the
clerk, very flippantly, termed his fists.
1884. Punch, 11 Oct. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic.’ Old Bluebottle
tipped me his flipper, and ’oped I’d ‘refreshed,’ and all that.