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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.
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verb (used with object), tupped, tup·ping.
  1. Chiefly British. (of a ram) to copulate with (a ewe).
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verb (used without object), tupped, tup·ping.
  1. Chiefly British. (of a ewe) to copulate.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for tup

Historical Examples

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

    The Yeoman Adventurer

    George W. Gough

  • 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

  • Tuving, strip in the boat nearest the gunwale; from tuk-, to stop a motion; tup, he makes it fast.

  • Little Mildred was very sad that she was not allowed to take him his “tup of toffee.”

  • Neither Davy nor Tup will know that Im slipping in half a minute of doze.

British Dictionary definitions for tup

tup

noun
  1. mainly British an uncastrated male sheep; ram
  2. the head of a pile-driver or steam hammer
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verb tups, tupping or tupped (tr)
  1. to cause (a ram) to mate with a ewe, or (of a ram) to mate with (a ewe)
  2. Lancashire dialect to butt (someone), as in a fight
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Word Origin

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

n.

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper