flip-flop

• flip flop, flipflop

Onomatopoeic: most probably an imitation of the sound produced when walking in them.

• (UK) enPR: flĭp'flŏp", IPA^(key): /ˈflɪpˌflɒp/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈflɪpˌflɑp/

flip-flop (plural flip-flops)

1. (US) An instance of flip-flopping, of repeatedly changing one's stated opinion about a matter. [from 19th c.]
   • 2020 April 8, David Clough, “How the West Coast wiring war was won”, in Rail, page 61:

     BR's flip-flop attitude towards the two options can be observed in comments made by the BR chairman in September 1967, which were interpreted as meaning that the facts now have to be "adjusted" to prove the electrification case.

2. (computing, electronics) A bistable; an electronic switching circuit that has either two stable states (switching between them in response to a trigger) or a stable and an unstable state (switching from one to the other and back again in response to a trigger), and which is thereby capable of serving as one bit of memory. [from 20th c.]
   • 2012, George Dyson, Turing's Cathedral, Penguin 2013, p. 72:

     Ten two-state flip-flops […] were formed into ten-stage ring counters representing each decimal digit in the ten-digit accumulators […]

3. A sandal consisting of a rubber sole fastened to the foot by a rubber thong fitting between the toes and around the sides of the foot. [from 20th c.]
   • 2004: the necessity for yet another place at which to buy a polo shirt or a pair of flip-flops may not be apparent to the town's residents — The New Yorker, 30 August 2004, p.38
4. A change of places; an inversion or swap.
   • 1964, Scholastic Coach (volume 34, page 18)

     On the break for strong left, everything remains the same, except for the flip-flop of positions.

5. The sound of a regular footfall.
6. A somersault. [from 19th c.]
7. (US, slang, truck driving) A return trip.
   • 1975, C.W. McCall and Chip Davis (lyrics), “Convoy”, in Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall:

     We'll catch you on the flip-flop. This here's the Rubber Duck on the side. We gone, 'bye, 'bye.

• (footwear): go-ahead (dated); jandal (New Zealand); thong, plugger (Australia); slop (South Africa); chancla (Latin American culture); zori (Japan, Southeastern US); beach sandal (Japan)

• flip-flop operator

• → Japanese: フリップフロップ (furippu-furoppu)

• sandal

flip-flop (third-person singular simple present flip-flops, present participle flip-flopping, simple past and past participle flip-flopped)

1. To alternate back and forth between directly opposite opinions, ideas, or decisions.

   Synonyms: U-turn, vacillate

• Flip-flop (electronics) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Flip-flop (footwear) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Flip-flop (programming) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• flip flop

From English flip-flop.

• IPA^(key): /ˈflipˌflop/, [ˈflipˌflo̞p]
• Rhymes: -op
• Syllabification^(key): flip‧flop

flip-flop

1. (Anglicism) flip-flop (footwear)

• varvassandaali
• varvastossu

Unadapted borrowing from English flip-flop.

flip-flop m (plural flip-flops)

1. (electronics) flip-flop (electronic circuit able to switch between two states)