popple
1 Americanverb (used without object)
noun
noun
verb
-
(of boiling water or a choppy sea) to heave or toss; bubble
-
(often foll by along) (of a stream or river) to move with an irregular tumbling motion
the small rivulet poppled along over rocks and stones for half a mile
Etymology
Origin of popple1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English poplen; imitative; see -le
Origin of popple2
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English popul, from Latin pōpulus
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
All the sounds were of water: the tick-tack of melting snow hitting tin roofs, the popple of gravity-fed pipes pouring mountain water into troughs.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 14, 2022
There is no sound but the popple of water against the bow and a deeper gurgle under the bilge; the boat slides forward with a motion which is not like any other .
From Time Magazine Archive
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President Kennedy's passing away is a terrible tragedy for the world, and our popple in India share with deep sorrow the grief and general feeling all over the world, especially in the U.S.
From Time Magazine Archive
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The speaker, newly emigrated to New Hampshire from the burbs of Westchester County, N.Y., was always careful to pronounce poplar "popple" to distinguish himself from flatlanders.
From Time Magazine Archive
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The entrance to Port Albany and Somerset is narrow; and the strong tide and wind combined to knock up an unpleasant popple.
From The Last Voyage to India and Australia, in the 'Sunbeam' by Pritchett, R. T. (Robert Taylor)
The ball lost its momentum, poppled across the ridges, and leaped to rest.
From Jonah and Co. by Yates, Dornford
That night I watched the poppling brew, With bended back and hand on knee: I stirred it till the dawnlight grew, And the wind whiffled wailfully.
From Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses by Hardy, Thomas
No less than that I bare this poppling plot To the French ruler and our fiercest foe!—
From The Dynasts by Hardy, Thomas
Without the wood a sudden shower was falling down from heaven, drenching anew wet pastures, thinning the mud upon brown lanes, poppling upon the washed highway.
From Anthony Lyveden by Yates, Dornford
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.