gowpen Sc. and dial.
(ˈgaʊpən)
Forms: 3 goupynes (pl.), 6–7 gopin(g, 6–9 gowpin(g, (8 gapen, gouppen, 9 gowpan, 7, 9 goppen), 8–9 goupen, -in, gowpen.
[a. ON. gaupn (Norw. dial. gaupn, Sw. göpen, Da. gievn, gi{obar}vn, in the Dict. of 1802) = OHG. coufana (MHG. goufen). Cf. yepsen.
The original sense of the Teut. word was prob. the single hand hollowed, the sense of ‘double handful’ being expressed by the plural. The ON. word seems to occur only as pl.; in mod.Scand. dialects the sing. is used, with varying sense.]
1. The two hands placed together so as to form a bowl († formerly pl. in the same sense). Hence, usually, as much as can be contained in the hands so placed; a ‘double handful’.
| c 1325 Gloss. W. de Biblesw. in Wright Voc. 147 note, (Sloane MS.) Amedous les mayns, voides ou pleyns, En Fraunz apellom les galeyns [glossed by goupynes]. 1536 Bellenden Boece's Hist. Scot. (1821) I. p. lviii, Bot gevis ane gowpin, orellis sum thingis mair abone the just mesure that they sell. 1724 Ramsay Tea-T. Misc., South Sea Sang, When we came to London Town We dream'd of gowd in gowpings here. 1805 Macneill Poet. Wks. (1812) II. 105 Our laird has fine houses and guineas in gowpins. 1827 Scott Antiq. Advt., A handful of meal (called a gowpen) was scarce denied by the poorest cottager. 1871 Gibbon Lack of Gold vi, He took out a gowpen of the grain. 1872 J. G. Murphy Comm. Lev. xvi. 12 Handsful, the full of the gowpens in Old English phrase. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Gowpen, the hollow of both hands placed together. |
| fig. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 118 Flang frae her lap rejoicingly Goupins o' glory down. |
b. Sc. Law. A perquisite allowed to a miller's servant.
| a 1765 Erskine Inst. Law Scot. ii. ix. §19. 314 The sequels are the small parcels of corn or meal given as a fee to the servants,..they pass by the name of..bannock, and lock, or gowpen. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xiii. note, The expression lock, for a small quantity of..corn, meal, flax, or the like, is still preserved, not only popularly, but in a legal description, as the lock and gowpen, or small quantity and handful, payable in thirlage cases, as in-town multure. |
2. The grasp of a hand, the fist.
| 1788 Picken Poems 111 An honest chiel..Juste ram'd it [a letter] in my gowpen. 18.. Tom Linn xxiii. in Maidment New Bk. Old Ball. (1844) 54 Hold me fast, let me not go, Or from your goupen break. |