▪ I. fop, n.
(fɒp)
Also 5–7 fopp(e.
[Connected with next. For the development of sense cf. F. fat, orig. ‘fool’ (L. fatuus), now ‘fop, coxcomb’.]
† 1. A foolish person, a fool. Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 170/1 Foppe, supra, idem quod folet. c 1450 Cov. Myst. 295 Spek man, spek! spek, thou fop! c 1590 Greene Fr. Bacon vii. 110 To bring us such a fop for Henry's son. a 1716 South Serm. Prov. xxii. 6 (1737) V. 10 A blessed improvement doubtless, and such as the fops our ancestors (as some use to call them) were never acquainted with. |
† b. Applied to a girl.
Obs.| 1714 C. Johnson Country Lasses i. i, Cousin, thou art a very wild fop. |
† 2. A conceited person, a pretender to wit, wisdom, or accomplishments; a coxcomb, ‘prig’.
Obs.| 1755 Young Centaur vi. Wks. 1757 IV. 253 These moral fops, ridiculously good. 1805 Med. Jrnl. XIV. 440 This serious charge, brought by the excellent physician of Pergamos against The medical fops of his age. |
3. One who is foolishly attentive to and vain of his appearance, dress, or manners; a dandy, an exquisite.
| 1672–6 [see 4]. 1681 Otway Soldier's Fort. ii. i. Wks. 1728 I. 353 Some taudry fluttering fop or another. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 193 A multitude of fops who love to have their persons admir'd. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey v. vi, His tightened waist, his stiff stock [etc.]..denoted the military fop. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. II. 71 The days of Charles II, when poets were fops and courtiers. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., chiefly attributive, as
fop-call,
fop-gravity,
fop-maker,
fop-neighbour,
fop-picture;
† Fops' alley, ‘a passage up the centre of the pit in the old Opera House where dandies congregated’ (Davies);
† fop-corner, a resort of fops;
† fop-road, the habits and practices of a fop.
| 1782 F. Burney Cecilia ii. iv, Sir Robert Floyer..sauntering down *fop's alley, stationed himself by her side. 1820 Byron Let. to Murray 12 Nov., He..took his station in Fops' Alley. |
| 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode iv. i. Wks. (1888) 329 A fiddle in this town is a kind of *fop-call. |
| 1673 Dryden Marr. a la Mode Prol. 3 *Fop-corner now is free from civil war. |
| 1672 ― Assignation iv. iii, Now do I even long to abuse that *fop-gravity again. |
| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones i. xi, The captain owed nothing to any of these *fop⁓makers in his dress. |
| 1795 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Pindariana Wks. 1812 IV. 183 Our *fop-neighbours see things with strange eyes. |
| 1698 Def. Dram. Poetry 82 In all the Stage *Fop⁓pictures, the Play-house bids so fair for mending that Fool too, that [etc.]. |
| 1677 A. Behn Town Fop v. 66 And so put you quite out of *Fopp Road. |
▪ II. † fop, v. Obs. Also 7
phop.
[Of uncertain origin; sense 2 agrees with Ger. foppen to hoax (see fob v.). The precise relation between the vb. and n. is uncertain; the n. appears earlier.] † 1. intr. To act like a fool; to play the fool.
| a 1529 Skelton Replyc. 120 Whan ye..in the pulpete hopped And folysshly there fopped. |
2. trans. = fob v.
1 a. To make a fool of, cheat, dupe. Also to cheat
into,
out of.
b. to fop off:
= ‘to fob off’.
| 1602 F. Herring tr. Oberndorff's Anat. True Physit. 41 When he expected his present payment, he phopped him thus. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. ii. 197, I..begin to finde my selfe fopt in it. 1605 Lond. Prodigal i. i, Doth hee thinke to fop of his posteritie with Paradoxes. 1690 Crowne Eng. Friar v. Dram. Wks. 1874 IV. 107 I'll comfort myself by fopping Ranter into marriage. 1694 ― Regulus v. ibid. 211 We are all fopp'd here, fopp'd out of our lives. |