Meaning & use
whip
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To beat a food hard and fast so that it traps air and becomes light, thick or fluffy.
Grammar: Takes an object: whip the cream; often followed by up or into.
Patterns
- whip something
- whip something into something
- whip something up
Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks.
She whipped the egg whites into a stiff foam.
He whipped the butter and sugar until pale.
verbphrasal verbinformal
To prepare something quickly, especially a meal, with little effort.
Grammar: Used with up: whip up a snack.
Patterns
- whip something up
- whip up something for someone
I can whip up a pasta dinner in twenty minutes.
She whipped up a salad from what was left in the fridge.
nouncountable or uncountable
A light dessert made by beating cream or egg whites with fruit or flavoring.
Grammar: Usually with a flavor word: chocolate whip.
Patterns
- a whip of something
We had a lemon whip for dessert.
The recipe calls for a fruit whip served in glasses.
Word forms
| third person singular | whips |
|---|---|
| past tense | whipped |
| past participle | whipped |
| -ing form | whipping |
Common combinations
- whip cream
- Whip cream with a little sugar to serve with the berries.
- whip egg whites
- Whip egg whites in a clean metal bowl.
- whip until stiff
- Whip until stiff peaks form.
- whip into peaks
- Whip the cream into soft peaks.
- whip up a meal
- He whipped up a meal for six friends.
- whipped cream
- The pie came with a swirl of whipped cream.
Synonyms and how they differ
- beat
- Beat is a general word for stirring hard, while whip stresses adding air to make something light.
- whisk
- Whisk names the tool and a lighter, faster motion, and is often interchangeable in recipes.
- fold
- Fold is gentle and keeps air in a mixture, so it is the opposite motion from whipping.
- cream
- Cream as a verb means to mix butter and sugar until smooth, which is different from adding air.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: whip or whisk?
whip vs whisk
A whisk is the tool, usually with wire loops, and as a verb it also means to move something away quickly; whip in cooking is the action of making a mixture airy.
Practice
To make the meringue, you must ____ the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
Choose one answer.
Whipping beats air into egg whites. Folding is a gentle mixing that would not create peaks, and kneading is for dough.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “whip”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.