subs. (colloquial).—Anything especial: a good ball (cricket); a knock-down blow (pugilistic); a fine woman; an outrageous lie, &c. Hence RIPPING = great, excellent, STUNNING (q.v.).
1851. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, I. 237. The … battle between the two young ladies of fortune is what we call a RIPPER.
1877. Belgravia, April, 241. Mr. Wilkie Collins’s last novel is a ‘RIPPING’ book.
1881. W. D. HOWELLS, Dr. Breen’s Practice, ii. ‘Barlow says it ’s the hottest day he ’s ever seen here.’… ‘It ’s a RIPPER.’
1884. HAWLEY SMART, From Post to Finish, i. What a RIPPING race it was.
1892. HUME NISBET, The Bushranger’s Sweetheart, 209. ‘How are you getting on with her?’ ‘RIPPINGLY as far as she is concerned.’
1896. COTSFORD DICK, The Ways of the World: Vers de Sociéte, 53. ‘Diogenes en Voyage.’ He calls the sunrise a ‘RIPPIN’ show.’
