Sense of "Flip" Not in OED

[victor steinbok]

My understanding is that the meaning is even more narrow, specifically
focusing on the "quick" part, as in "turn-around" or "turn over". The
commodity could be anything from small jewelry or electronics or
collectibles to, as Fred says, real estate. Although it's largely associated
with electronic sales and auctions now, it might have its origin in fencing
stolen goods. But all of that would pale next to another issue.

Macmillan (online) has as its first general entry

flip or ˌflip oˈver [INTRANSITIVE/TRANSITIVE] to turn over quickly, or to
> make something turn over


Interestingly, not one of the OED definitions matches this one. And
flipping==selling is not one of the subentries. AHD4 has a similar entry. So
not only does the OED have no entry for the latest incarnation of the verb,
but it has no entry for its underlying gloss either. CompactOED (online) has
both (entries 1 and 4). MWOL differentiates between tossing something to
turn over in the air (1) and turning something over (2a).

Bonus item:

OED flip-flop n. 2. does not have a corresponding verb (e.g., a politician
flip-flopping on issues). There is, however, an entry for "flip-flopper",
both nouns going back to the 1890s. Partridge 8th (and others) also has a
meaning of flip-flops==bouncing breasts/girl with bouncing breasts
(Australian, 1920ff).

VS-)

On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 9:55 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>wrote:

>
> The common sense of the verb "flip," meaning to buy and resell something
> such as real estate to make a quick profit, is not yet in OED.
>
> Fred Shapiro

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