MDDM23: The Green Pip

[Mark Wright AIA]

Howdy
This passage seems to refer to un-requiteable sexual desire in an
adolescent girl, a condition Mrs. Edgewise remembers experiencing
herself. I went lookng (as you fellows did) in the Shorter OED for some
support for this, and found:

green
derived from _giernan_ (Old English from Northumbrian region)
v. to desire earnestly, yearn after

pip
late Middle English
Ill humour, bad temper, poor health
phrase
"have the pip" be depressed, despondent or unwell


therefore perhaps:
"green pip" is to become _unwell with desire_

Mark




--- Samuel Moyer <smoyer at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dave Monroe" <davidmmonroe at yahoo.com>
> 
> 
> 
> >    "Fascinated herself, she has miss'd completely his
> > effect upon Mitzi, who is sitting there flush'd and
> > daz'd, with as clear an incipient case of the Green
> > Pip as Mrs. Edgewise has met with since her own
> > Girlhood." (M&D, Ch. 36, p. 369)
> >
> > Main Entry: pip
> 
> The OED on line adds many other definitions including:
> 
> c. Ill humour or poor health, esp. in colloq. phrs. to have (or get)
> the
> pip, to be depressed, despondent, or unwell; to give (someone) the
> pip, to
> annoy or irritate, to make (someone) ill-tempered or dispirited.
> (though the
> first example is 1886)
> 
>  2. A spot or speck; spec. a small spot on the skin; a spot on a
> spotted
> dress fabric; pl. specks appearing to dance before the eye. Now dial.
> 
>   1676 WORLIDGE Cyder 157 Pippins..taking their name from the small
> spots or
> pips that..appear on the sides of the Apple. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss.,
> Pips,..the spots on playing cards, dominoes, and women's dresses.
> 1881
> Oxfordsh. Gloss., Pips, small spots on the skin. 1881 Leicestersh.
> Gloss.,
> Pips.
> 
>  2. a. The common name for the seeds of fleshy fruits, as the apple,
> pear,
> orange, etc
> 
> 
> pip, v. 4
> intr. To make a short, high-pitched sound. So pipping ppl. a. (this
> is 1938)
> 
> 
> sam


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