yips

See also: Yips

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

yips (uncountable)

1. (informal) A nervous condition which prevents a sportsperson from playing properly; especially a condition which causes a golfer to miss an easy putt, or a tennis player to serve a double fault.

   Synonym: wobbles

   • 2013 May 13, William Fotheringham, The Guardian:

     Defining precisely why a professional cyclist might lose his touch on descents is as difficult as explaining a golfer's yips or a striker's sudden inability to find the net. It happens rarely, most famously in the early 1990s; the double world champion Gianni Bugno suffered from it and only rediscovered his "flow" after being made to listen to Mozart to calm his nerves.

See also

• dartitis
• performance anxiety

Noun

yips

1. plural of yip

Verb

yips

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of yip

References

• OED 2nd edition 1989

Anagrams

• I spy, I-spy, Ypsi