hep

Etymology 1

Shortening.

noun

1. (informal) hepatitis.
2. Abbreviation of high-energy physics.

Etymology 2

Alteration of hip.

noun

1. (obsolete) A hip of a rose; a rosehip.

Etymology 3

US slang of unknown or disputed origin, first recorded 1903. Robert Gold suggested that it is a variant of hip, from white jazz fans’ mishearing African American musicians,. Jonathon Green suggests a connection to a 19th century interjection used to drive horses; compare gee up.

adj

1. (dated slang) Aware, up-to-date.
   I was pleased, as I put him hep on the Wilbert-Phyllis situation and revealed the part he was expected to play in it, to note that he showed no signs of being about to issue the presidential veto. 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter IX
2. (dated slang) Cool, hip, sophisticated.

verb

1. (dated, US slang) To make aware of.
   I hepped him to the situation.

Etymology 4

From German hep or Hepp-Hepp, an interjection used to attack Jewish people. The origin of the German source is unknown, but may come from a goatherd’s call.

intj

1. (historical) A rallying cry in attacks on the Jewish people.

noun

1. (usually reduplicated) An instance of crying hep!, especially as a call to attack Jewish people.
   Let us hope that the modern “Hep-Hep” cry of Antisemitism of to-day will be accompanied by a similar level of Judaism. 1893, Emanuel Schreiber, Historians of Judaism in the Nineteenth Century, page 13