whip-smart

See also: whipsmart

English

WOTD – 11 August 2018

Etymology

Possibly an allusion to how quickly the tip of a whip moves when the whip is cracked.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʍɪpˌsmɑːt/, /ˈwɪpˌsmɑːt/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪpˌsmɑɹt/

Adjective

(Canada, US, informal) Very intelligent.
- 1948, Ray Josephs, Latin America: Continent in Crisis:
  Seeing them here in town, smart in American-style uniforms, Peru's Army looks extremely well-trained, whip-smart.
- 1949, Robert Sharon Allen, Our Sovereign State, page 208:
  Cutler, 350-pounder from Lewistown in the strip coalmining area, was a constant thorn in the Democratic side. A whip-smart parliamentarian, he effectively filled the role of "needler" as House Republican Leader.
- 2017 October 27, Alex McLevy, “Making a Killing: The Brief Life and Bloody Death of the Post-Scream Slasher Revival”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 5 March 2018:
  Like Cabin In The Woods, it manages the extraordinary balancing act of delivering actual scares (more so than Cabin) while being a whip-smart critique of how scares are manufactured.

Alternative forms

whipsmart

Synonyms

smart as a whip

Antonyms

See Thesaurus:stupid

Translations

very intelligent — See also translations at intelligent,‎ smart

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