tup

[ tuhp ]

/ tʌp /

noun

Chiefly British. a male sheep; ram.

the head of a falling hammerlike mechanism, as of a steam hammer or pile driver.

verb (used with object), tupped, tup·ping.

Chiefly British. (of a ram) to copulate with (a ewe).

verb (used without object), tupped, tup·ping.

Chiefly British. (of a ewe) to copulate.

Nearby words

tunneling, tunney, tunney, gene, tunny, tuonela, tup, tupamaro, tupelo, tupi, tupi-guarani, tupik

Origin of tup

1300–50; Middle English tope, tupe ram, of obscure origin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tup

Little Mildred was very sad that she was not allowed to take him his “tup of toffee.”
Molly Brown's College Friends|Nell Speed
Tuving, strip in the boat nearest the gunwale; from tuk-, to stop a motion; tup, he makes it fast.
The Central Eskimo|Franz Boas
Mattie has been twice at the door wi' the dinner, and weel for you it was a tup's head, for that canna suffer by delay.
Rob Roy, Complete, Illustrated|Sir Walter Scott
Start the tup in his own rough region, and we will be bound to say he will give the hounds and their followers a scramble.
Ask Momma|R. S. Surtees

As if I mattered a tup's head, the silly gomeril, bless him!
The Yeoman Adventurer|George W. Gough

British Dictionary definitions for tup

tup

/ (tʌp) /

noun

mainly British an uncastrated male sheep; ram

the head of a pile-driver or steam hammer

verb tups, tupping or tupped (tr)

to cause (a ram) to mate with a ewe, or (of a ram) to mate with (a ewe)

Lancashire dialect to butt (someone), as in a fight

Word Origin for tup

C14: of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for tup

tup

"male sheep," c.1300, Scottish and Northern English; of unknown origin.