DCHP-1 Online

gyp(p)o jippo [< Gypo (slang) gypsy] Slang

• n. a small operator or contractor.

  • The source of this term indicates the mobile character of such operators and does not necessarily have derogatory connotations, although the association with gyp, suggesting dishonest or shoddy work, is often made.

  • 1912  It appeared that at this end of the road there were no "Gyppos" or "wheel-barrow outfits," as they call the independent freighters, and the contractors . . . refused to carry a pound that was not their own.
  • 1948  The traditional gypo-contractor and small jobber still lives in his dog-house and talks about the "good old days, when men were men."
  • 1959  This office did offer me the usual dime a dozen jobs selling thingamajigs door-to-door on commission for the gyppo firms.
  • 1960  Now we got the tree farm licence, designed to protect the inefficiency of the big boy, and maybe the race of gyppos is going to be wiped out.