or clippingly, ppl. adj. and adv. (common).—Excellent; very showy; first-rate. [From that sense of clipping = that flies or moves fast.—See quot., 1643.] For synonyms, see A1 and FIZZING.
1643. QUARLES, Emblems, B. IV., ii., p. 194 (ed. 1648).
| O that the pinions of a CLIPPING Dove | |
| Would cut my passage through the Empty Air, | |
| Mine eyes being seal’d, how would I mount above | |
| The reach of danger and forgotten care! |
1860. THACKERAY, The Adventures of Philip, ch. i., p. 46. What CLIPPING girls there were in that barouche.
1864. YATES, Broken to Harness, ch. xxiii. [Mr. Commissioner Beresford loq.:] CLIPPING riders, those girls! good as Kate Mellon, any day!
