tip-off

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tip-off (plural tip-offs)

1. (idiomatic) An obvious clue or indication.

   The broken window and overturned plant pots were a tip-off that something was wrong.

2. (idiomatic) A report of suspicious behaviour, especially to an authority.

   The police received a tip-off about a recent bank robbery.

• tip off (verb)

• “tip-off”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “tip-off”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “tip-off”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “tip-off”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.