▪ I. scupper, n.
(ˈskʌpə(r))
Forms: 5 skopor, skopper, 6 scopper, 7 scuper, scopeboard (erron.), 7–8 scoper, skupper, 6– scupper.
[Of disputed etymology.
Some regard it as an agent-n. f. scoop v. (sense 1); others as an adoption of an AF. derivative of OF. escopir to spit. Cf. G. speigat scupper, f. speien to spit.]
1. a. Naut. Chiefly pl. An opening in a ship's side on a level with the deck to allow water to run away.
| 1485, 1497 [see scupper-nail, -leather, in 2]. 1592 W. Wyrley Armorie, Ld. Chandos 34 Voiding scoppers voided out their bloud. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xviii. 418 The whilst those mightie Ships out of their scuppers pour'd Their trayterous cluttred gore. 1669–79 T. B[ateman] Asia lf. 48 With girdlines from the said cradle to her ports or Scopeboards. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. iv. 443 We made a great quantity of water through our hawse-holes, ports and scuppers. 1834 Marryat P. Simple xxxv, Every scupper of her running blood and water. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. iii. xiii, The Hispaniola was rolling scuppers under in the ocean swell. |
† b. Used for: A pump. ?
nonce-use.
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. To Rdr. 2 Whereas coniectures are certain detections of things vnknowne..I have alwaies thought that they were to be accounted among the skuppers [orig. inter autlias] wherewith Time worketh and draweth Veritie out of Democritus his deepe dungeon. |
c. fig. coarse slang. A depreciatory term for a woman,
esp. a prostitute.
| 1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 102/2 Scupper, a prostitute. 1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 265 More familiar terms in current usage refer to women as receptacles for refuse,..as tramp, scow, scupper. 1972 F. Warner Lying Figures iv. 40 Sapph You were always firm... Laz Your limbs and trunk were in angles of contingency. Sapph I was your scupper. |
2. attrib. and
Comb., as
scupper-hole,
-hose,
-leather,
-nail,
-shoot (see
quots.).
| c 1590 E. Wright in Hakluyt's Voy. (1599) II. ii. 163 Euery *scupper-hole, and other place where it [sc. rain] ranne downe. 1702 Milit. & Sea Dict. (1711), Skuppers, or Skupper-Holes are the Holes close to all the Decks, through the Ship's sides, through which the Water runs out of the Ship from the Decks. 1903 H. Clifford Free Lance x. 82 Her scupper-holes spouting. |
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v., The scuppers of the lower deck of a ship of war are usually furnished with a leathern pipe, called the *scupper-hoase, which hangs downward from the mouth or opening of the scuppers. The intent of this is to prevent the water from entering, when the ship inclines under a weight of sail. |
| 1497 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 298 *Skopperlethers & Skoppernayles. 1702 Milit. & Sea Dict. ii. (1711), Skupper-Leathers are the round Leathers nail'd over the Skupper-Holes,..which keep out the Sea-Water from coming in, and yet let any Water run out from the Deck. |
| 1485 Cely Papers (Camden) 180 For ij{supc} *skopor nayll vj{supd}. 1702 Milit. & Sea Dict. ii. (1711), Skupper-Nails, are little short Nails, with broad Heads, made on purpose to nail on the Skupper Leathers. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 135 Scupper nails. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Scupper-shoots, metal or wooden tubes which carry the water from the decks of frigates to the sea-level. |
▪ II. scupper, v. (
ˈskʌpə(r))
[perh. f. prec. n., but the connexion of meaning is not clear.] a. trans. To surprise and massacre.
Mil. slang.
| 1885 Pall Mall Gaz. 2 Apr. 3/2 The fierce warriors who ‘scupper’ Tommy Atkins within the lines of Suakin. 1885 St. James's Gaz. 31 Mar. 4/1 Being quietly chopped to pieces in their beds, or ‘scuppered’, as some grim wits have termed it. 1896 Kipling Seven Seas 98 We preach in advance of the Army, We skirmish ahead of the Church, With never a gunboat to help us When we're scuppered and left in the lurch. 1896 Daily News 19 May 8/1 It was pretty much like a ‘scuppering’ surprise in the Eastern Soudan. 1902 Blackw. Mag. Mar. 333 It's a great relief to find that advance squadron hasn't been scuppered. |
b. colloq. To defeat, ruin, destroy, put an end to.
| a 1918 [see knock v. 14 a]. 1948 [see ditch v.1 6 c]. 1957 Economist 19 Oct. 235/1 The suspicion is still alive that there would have been secret rejoicing in Whitehall if the French Assembly had scuppered the common market. 1957 L. Durrell Justine iii. 155 You can help us scupper them, old man. 1962 Times 2 Mar. 4/2 Underwood followed up his kick ahead and, when scuppered, found Rogers, as ever, there for a try at the post. 1974 Times 7 Feb. 14/8 If the Government wants to welsh on its promise, it will have to scupper Mr Money's Bill. 1981 W. Winward Ball Bearing Run iv. 51 ‘We're scuppered,’ said Fallon... It was a crushing blow. |
Senses a, b in
Dict. become 1, 2. For
etym. read: [
f. scupper n. The connection is
perh. explained by Fraser & Gibbons
Soldier & Sailor Words (1925)
s.v. Scuppered: A man killed in action or falling in heavy weather would naturally roll into the scuppers.] Add:
3. To sink (a vessel) deliberately;
= scuttle v.
2 1 a (with which it is sometimes confused).
| 1976 Oxf. Compan. Ships & Sea 763/2 Scupper,..deliberately to sink a ship by opening the seacocks in her hull or by blowing a hole in her side below the waterline. It has, presumably, the same general origin as scuttle. 1982 Summary World Broadcasts: Soviet Union 31 Mar. A1/10 ‘Explosives!’ one of the sailors guessed. ‘They are going to scupper the ship. But why?’ 1988 Daily Tel. 24 Dec. 9/1 Hitler's 89ft custom-built yacht, Ostwind, is to be scuppered by..a marine company chief on whose property..the battered relic of the Third Reich was abandoned. |