tip off
To secretly tell someone useful information they wouldn't otherwise know.
Meanings
To secretly warn or give inside information to someone, especially to help them avoid trouble or catch someone else.
"An anonymous caller tipped off the police about the planned robbery."
"A hotel cleaner tipped off immigration officials after finding false passports in a guest's room."
— Common news report phrasing; widely attested in UK press.
To give a journalist or news organisation private information about a story.
"Someone tipped off the press that the CEO was about to resign."
Common in journalism, crime, and sports contexts. The noun 'tip-off' (always hyphenated or one word as a noun) is very frequently used. Often implies the information is confidential or passed privately. Also used as the start of a basketball game (the tip-off), though this sense is rarely used as a verb.
Commonly used with
Forms
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