Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LIP, n. [Sax. lippa, lippe; D. lip; G. and Dan. lippe; Sw. läpp; L. labium, labrum; It. labbro; Sp. labio; Fr. levre; Ir. clab or liobhar; Pers. لب lab. It may be connected with W. llavaru, Ir. labhraim, to speak, that is, to thrust out. The sense is probably a border.]

1. The edge or border of the mouth. The lips are two fleshy or muscular parts, composing the exterior of the mouth in man and many other animals. In man, the lips, which may be opened or closed at pleasure, form the covering of the teeth, and are organs of speech essential to certain articulations. Hence the lips, by a figure, denote the mouth, or all the organs of speech, and sometimes to speech itself. – Job. ii.
2. The edge of any thing; as, the lip of a vessel. – Burnet.
3. In botany, one of the two opposite divisions of a labiate corol. The upper is called the helmet, and the lower the beard. Also, an appendage to the flowers of the Orchises, considered by Linnæus as a nectary. – Martyn. Smith. To make a lip, to drop the under lip in sullenness or contempt. – Shak.