(not-comparable, offensive) Of or having the qualities of an itinerant person or group with qualities traditionally ascribed to Romani people; making a living from dishonest practices or theft etc.
(colloquial) An itinerant person or any person, not necessarily Romani; a tinker, a traveller or a carny.
Like a right gypsy, hath, at fast and loose, Beguiled me to the very heart of loss. c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]:
(offensive, sometimes) A move in contra dancing in which two dancers walk in a circle around each other while maintaining eye contact (but not touching as in a swing). (Compare whole gyp, half gyp, and gypsy meltdown, in which this step precedes a swing.)
A member of a Broadway musical chorus line.
(dated) A person with a dark complexion.
(dated) A sly, roguish woman.
(colloquial, dated) A fortune teller.
(alt-of, offensive, sometimes) Alternative letter-case form of Gypsy (“a member of the Romani people”).
He championed the music of the gypsies as he did the Muslim and Jewish roots of Spanish culture. […] All these and more were fused in the forge of the gypsy experience into a singular art form, unlike any of its sources, evoking its own worldview, its own existential stance. 2010 February 5, Mike Marqusee, “Flamenco's humane roots”, in The Guardian:
It was at this town of Badajoz, the capital of Estremadura, that I first fell in with those singular people, the Zincali, Gitanos, or Spanish gypsies. 1843, George Borrow, The Bible in Spain, London: Cassell and Company, Ltd.:
sv zigenare (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · fa کولی (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · he צועני (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · cs cikán (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · eo ciganino (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ar غَجَرِيّ (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · it zingara (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · gd giofag (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · be цыга́н (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ga fiaire feá (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · sk cigán (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · sh Ци̏ганин (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · vi digan (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · cy sipsiwn (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · sl cigan (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · pt cigana (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · vi dân gipxi (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · fi mustalainen (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · af sigeuner (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · de Zigeuner (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · sq arixhi (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · pl cygan (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ga ruagaire reatha (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · fr tsigane (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ka ბოშა (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · eu ijito (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · th ยิปซี (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ja ジプシー (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · nl zigeuner (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ga duine den lucht siúil (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · mk Ци́ган (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · uk цига́нка (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ga fánaí (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ar غَجَرِيَّة (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · mk Ци́ганин (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · pt cigano (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · no sigøynerske (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · sl ciganka (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · nl zigeunerin (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ro țigan (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · it zingaro (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · uk цига́н (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · es gitano (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · be цыга́нка (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · cmn 吉普賽人 /吉普赛人 (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · el τσιγγάνος (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · hu cigány (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · sv zigenerska (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · hi जिप्सी (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · an chitán (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · mk Ци́ганка (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · no sigøyner (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · sk cigánka (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · pl cyganka (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · hy գնչու (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · tr çingene (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · da sigøjner (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ko 집시 (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ru цыга́н (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ga bóithreoir (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · eo cigano (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ga seachránaí (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · sh Cȉgānka (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · de Zigeunerin (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · fr gitan (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · acw غَجَري (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · is sígauni (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ru цыга́нка (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ga giofóg (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · sh Cȉganin (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ro țigancă (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · bg ци́ганка (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · sh Ци̏га̄нка (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · gl xitano (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · fr romanichel (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · gag ţigan (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · yi ציגײַנער (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · es gitana (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · bg ци́ганин (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · et mustlane (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · vi dân gipsi (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · vi người Di Gan (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ka ბოშა-ქალი (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · sq arixheshkë (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · hi यायावार (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft) · ca gitano (any itinerant person, or any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft)
(intransitive) To roam around the country like a gypsy.
The rest of the day is spent out of doors "Gypsying", and families greatly enjoy themselves on these occasions. 1885, Richard F. Burton, chapter XX, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume I, The Burton Club, page 199 footnote:
To perform the gypsy step in contra dancing.
Look at the person you're gypsying with, and convey the message that you notice them as a person and that you're glad that they're there, […] 1992 April 7, win...@ssrl01.slac.stanford.edu, “contra-gypsies”, in rec.folk-dancing (Usenet):
The only one I know of is The Tease by Tom Hinds which starts with the actives gypsying and then swinging their neighbors and ends with contra […] 1998 September 9, Jonathan Sivier, “Contra Corners - followed by gypsy”, in rec.folk-dancing (Usenet):