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tup

[ tuhp ]

noun

  1. Chiefly British. a male sheep; ram.
  2. the head of a falling hammerlike mechanism, as of a steam hammer or pile driver.


verb (used with object)

, tupped, tup·ping.
  1. Chiefly British. (of a ram) to copulate with (a ewe).

verb (used without object)

, tupped, tup·ping.
  1. Chiefly British. (of a ewe) to copulate.

tup

/ tʌp /

noun

  1. an uncastrated male sheep; ram
  2. the head of a pile-driver or steam hammer
“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


verb

  1. to cause (a ram) to mate with a ewe, or (of a ram) to mate with (a ewe)
  2. dialect.
    to butt (someone), as in a fight
“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
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tup1

1300–50; Middle English tope, tupe ram, of obscure origin
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tup1

C14: of unknown origin
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Example Sentences

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.

Aw glendurt like a stickt tup, for fear ov a dust mysel', an crope fur into th' chimbley.

The shearling tup is then a 2-shear tup, and the dinmont is a wether, but more correctly a 2-shear wether.

Anent sheep jumping hedges, I may venture here to tell a tale of a certain old rogue who went by the name of Tup-Harry.

As if I mattered a tup's head, the silly gomeril, bless him!

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