noun
- a brief, constant beeping sound, usually of a high pitch and generated by an electronic device.
- such an electronic sound used to replace a censored word or phrase, as on a television broadcast.
- Also blip. (used as a euphemism to indicate the omission or deletion of an obscenity or other objectionable word).
verb (used without object)
- (of an electronic device) to emit a series of bleeps as an audible signal, summons, or warning.
verb (used with object)
- Also blip. to censor (an obscene, vulgar, or other objectionable word or phrase) from a radio or television broadcast by deleting from the audio signal, leaving a gap or an electronic tone: The word was bleeped out of the comedian’s routine.
noun
- a short high-pitched signal made by an electronic apparatus; beep
- another word for bleeper
verb
- (intr) to make such a noise
- (tr) to call (someone) by triggering the bleeper he or she is wearing
“electronic noise,” 1953, imitative.
1957, from bleep (n.); specific sense of “edit a sound over a word deemed unfit for broadcast” is from 1968 (earliest reference seems to be to the “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” on U.S. television). Related: Bleeped; bleeping.