▪ I. † lop, n.1 Obs.
(lɒp)
Forms: 1, 5 loppe, 7– lop.
[OE. loppe wk. fem., of obscure origin. Cf. lob n.1]
A spider.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xvi. §2 ᵹe furþum þeos lytle loppe hine [sc. man] hwilum deadne ᵹedeþ. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 121/27 Loppe, fleonde næddre, uel attorcoppe. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. i. §3 Shapen in manere of a net or of a webbe of a loppe. Ibid. §19 From this senyth..ther come a maner krokede strikes like to the clawes of a loppe. c 1400 Ragman Roll 72 in Hazlitt E.P.P. I. 72 Ye lade longe sydyde as a loppe. |
▪ II. lop, n.2 Now dial.
(lɒp)
[prob. a. ON. *hloppa wk. fem. (Sw. loppa, Da. loppe), f. root of hlǫupa (hlaupa) to leap.]
A flea.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. viii. 306 Grete loppys ouer all þis land thay fly [sc. the plague of ‘flies’]. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. D vij b, After this Boor shall come a lambe that shall haue feet of leed an hede of bras an hert of a loppe. 1597 G. Harvey Trimming Nashe Wks. (Grosart) III. 43 But see, what, art thou heere? lupus in fabula, a lop in a chaine? 1662 Rump Songs i. 192 Lay-interlining Clergy, a device That's nick-name to the stuff call'd Lops and Lice. 1674 Ray N.C. Words 31 Lops and Lice, used in the South, i.e. Fleas and Lice. 1755 in Johnson. 1787 Grose Provinc. Gloss., Lop, a flea. N. 1863 Robson Bards of Tyne 237 The sheets lily-white, though aw says it mysel'; Maw darlin', nee lops there to touch us. 1877 in N.W. Linc. Gloss. |
▪ III. lop, n.3
(lɒp)
Also 5–8 loppe, (7 lope), 6–7 lopp.
[Commonly supposed to be f. lop v.1, but more probably the source of that word. Senses 2 and 3, however, are from the vb.
The etymology is obscure. An OE. *lopp would represent a pre-Teut. type *lupno- ‘what is stripped off’, f. root *lup- (see leaf n.1); but the word does not appear before the 15th c., and is not found in other Teut. dialects. Cf. Norw. dial. loppa v., to pluck, snatch, lopa, lopna (of bark) to be loosened by moisture.]
1. The smaller branches and twigs of trees, such as are not measured for timber; faggot-wood, loppings. Also, a branch lopped off. Phr. lop and top, waste branches cut from timber trees, usually after the trees have been felled; also lop and crop.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. vi. 45 And stones yf thee lacketh, this is boote: Sarment, or stre, or loope [L. vel quibuscunque virgultis] in hit be graued. 1464 Rolls of Parlt. V. 547/1 The Loppes and Croppes of Woode, falled withynne our fryth of Leycestre. 1532 Dial. on Laws Eng. ii. lv. 153 b, What thynke they if a man sell the loppes of his woode, whether any tythe ought there to be payd? 1573 Tusser Husb. xxxiii. (1878) 73 Let lop be shorne that hindreth corne. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. ii. 96 We take From euery tree, lop, barke, and part o' th' timber. 1651 G. W. tr. Cowel's Inst. 265 Where any one is killed, with the fall of an Arme or Lopp of a Tree..after warning given by the parties who are..lopping. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 92 A certain gentleman..obtained a parcel of Elm-trees lops and tops. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon [506], Lops of Trees above twenty years Growth pay no Tithes. 1774 T. West Antiq. Furness (1805) 228 Anye kind of underwoods, topps, loppes, croppes, or other woods. 1805 Trans. Soc. Arts XXIII. 135, I also considered the value of the tops and lop, or trimmings of the trees. 1819 W. Faux Mem. Days Amer. (1823) 176 What [trees] are cut down, together with the lop, are rolled by levers into heaps and burnt. 1826 Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 238 What is the price of this load of timber?.. taking in lop, top and bark..ten pounds a load at least. 1842 Brande Dict. Sci. etc., s.v. Lopping, When timber trees are sold the purchaser bargains to take them either with or without the lop and crop. 1862 T. L. Peacock Mem. Shelley Wks. 1875 III. 448 The gardener had cut it [sc. a holly-tree] up into a bare pole, selling the lop for Christmas decorations. 1892 Times 24 Oct. 3/1 Cord wood is the smaller limbs of oak, the lop and top of the branches when the trees are felled. 1938 C. P. Ackers Pract. Brit. Forestry vi. 194 Lop and top may be overcome either by burning or by stacking it in ‘trenches’. 1972 Country Life 30 Mar. 789/3 ‘Lopp and Topp’—the side and top branches—were the college property and if from ash or oak fetched 8s. to 9s. 6d. a load. |
| fig. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 57 Ah, foolish old man!.. Now thy selfe hast lost both lopp and topp, Als my budding braunch thou wouldest cropp. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 94 Lop and top, hip and thigh, bough and branch, root and stemme, all and singular should be eradicated. c 1645 Howell Lett. I. v. xxvii, They three [sc. Italian, French, and Spanish] Are only lops cut from the Latian tree. |
† 2. A lopped tree or the lopped part of a tree. Obs. rare.
| a 1640 Sir W. Jones Rep. (1675) 280 They must..not cut the Loppes flat, so that the water may stand on them, and rot them. 1656 W. D. tr. Comenius' Gate Lat. Unl. §371. 105 Hee pruneth every year, that new branches may spring from the Lope, or pruned tree. |
† 3. The action or process of lopping a tree or its boughs. Obs.
| 1576 Turberv. Venerie 198 What loads of haye, what grasse for bief, what store of wood for loppe. a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. vii. i. §2 It hath not seemed expedient to offer the edge of the axe unto all three boughs at once, but rather to..strike at the weakest first, making show that the lop of that one shall draw the more abundance of sap to the other two. |
4. Comb.: lop-limbed a., having one or more limbs cut off; lop-stick (Canadian), a tree which has had its branches lopped and the name of the lopper cut in its trunk; also lobstick; lop-wood, branches, etc. lopped from a tree.
| 1809 Malkin Gil Blas vii. xii, The *lop-limbed captain would have gone raving mad at it. |
| 1821 N. Garry Diary 19 Aug. (1900) 149 After Dinner we observed that two of our Men had lopped away the Boughs and all the Lower Branches of two Trees leaving a Top. This is called a *Lop-Stick. 1847 J. B. Nevins Two Voy. Hudson's Bay iv. 90 Two gentlemen were travelling a short time since, and lobsticks were cut for them. 1873 G. M. Grant Ocean to Ocean vii. 196 There is an old superstition that your health and length of days will correspond to your lobstick's. 1892 W. Pike North. Canada 209 Often on the lonely waterways of the Northern country one sees a lop-stick showing far ahead on the bank, and reads a name celebrated in the annals of the Hudson's Bay Company or in the history of Arctic exploration. 1923 Beaver Aug. 421 To commemorate this great battle, three lobsticks were cut on each side of the river. 1949 Argosy Apr. 13 On the far side of the lake, if you must portage, use the ‘lop-stick’ mark. This is made by cutting all branches from one side of a tall tree which may be seen either from water or land. Its unnatural appearance attracts the eye; the side from which branches are cut indicates the direction of portage. 1964 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 18 Oct. 1/12 There was a tradition among the Northern Indians that a lobstick honouring an individual would fall when its sponsor died. |
| 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. 75 They afford both much *Lop-wood and Fruit. 1794 T. Stone Agric. Surv. Linc. (1800) 115 [Trees] which will consequently produce most bark, and top or lop-wood. 1888 Academy 4 Feb. 71/1 The curious customs of ‘lop-wood’ or privileges of cutting fuel from pollards at certain seasons of the year. |
▪ IV. † lop, n.4 Obs. rare.
[Related to lop v.2, expressing the notion of something hanging loose. Cf. lap n.1, lob n.2]
A lobe (of the liver).
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 342 The land Frogs of Toads kind, have one lop or lappet of the Liver, which Ants will not touch. |
▪ V. † lop, n.5 Tanning. Obs.
[Of obscure origin; cf. lob n.2 5.]
The infusion of bark and ooze used in tanning leather. (Cf. lopping vbl. n.3)
| 1773 Encycl. Brit. III. 886/2 The bark should be rounder beat, and more given to the lop, for large hides than small ones; and consequently larger leather should lie longer in the lop. |
▪ VI. lop, n.6 Naut.
(lɒp)
[Onomatopœic (connected with lop v.3). Cf. lap n.2, v.1]
A state of the sea in which the waves are short and lumpy.
| 1829 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 360 There was too much ‘lop’. 1838 Ibid. II. 153 The wigeon..were always on a ‘lop of the sea’. 1847 Illustr. Lond. News 10 July 18/2 There being a ‘lop’ on, the boat lurched to windward. 1899 F. T. Bullen Way Navy 38 Quite a ‘lop’ of a sea gets up, but these battleships take no heed of it. |
▪ VII. lop, n.7
(lɒp)
[Short for lop-rabbit: see lop v.2]
A variety of rabbit with long drooping ears. Also with word prefixed, as full-lop, half-lop, oar-lop (see quot. 1868), horn-lop.
| 1868 Darwin Anim. & Pl. I. iv. 107 When one parent, or even both, are oar-laps [sic], that is, have their ears sticking out at right angles, or when one parent or both are half-lops, that is, have only one ear dependent, there is nearly as good a chance of the progeny having both ears full-lop, as if both parents had been thus characterized. But I am informed, if both parents have upright ears, there is hardly a chance of a full-lop. 1877 C. Rayson Rabbits xiii. 70 In rearing lops, little divergence need be made from the usual mode adopted. 1884 R. O. Edwards Rabbits vii. 54 It is very difficult to arrive at whether or not the drooping of the ears of the Lop is natural. Ibid. 55 Oar Lops, Half Lops, and Horn Lops, are not..to be considered anything fancy. |
▪ VIII. lop, n.8
= lop-grass (see lop v.2 4).
▪ IX. lop, v.1
(lɒp)
Also 6 loppe.
[prob. f. lop n.3]
1. trans. To cut off the branches, twigs, etc.: rarely the top or ‘head’, of (a tree); to cut away the superfluous growth of, to trim.
| 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 172 Vynes..shuld be lopped or cut about the .xx. day of march. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §132 If y⊇ haue any trees to shrede, loppe, or croppe for the fyre wode. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 75 If a Date tre be topped or lopped it will lyue no longer after. 1620 Markham Farew. Husb. (1625) 160 In the moneth of December..lop hedges and trees. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 210 What we by day Lop overgrown, or prune, or prop, or bind, One night or two with wanton growth derides, Tending to wilde. 1714 Scroggs Courts-leet (ed. 3) 32 Whether any Copyholder..Hath..lopped or topped any Timber-Trees. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 25 ¶4 A few strokes of an axe will lop a cedar. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 259 By lopping trees, more nourishment is supplied to the remaining parts. |
b. transf. and fig.; esp. To cut off the head or limbs of (a person). † Also with away, off.
| 1602 Narcissus (1893) 696 My webb is spunne; Lachesis, loppe thy loome. 1603 Drayton Odes xvii. 47 When our grandsire great, Claiming the regal seat, By many a War⁓like feate, Lop'd the French lillies. 1682 Otway Venice Preserved ii. i. Wks. 1727 II. 290 Lop their Nobles To the base Roots, whence most of 'em first sprung. 1683 [see lopping vbl. n.]. 1725 Pope Odyss. xviii. 99 A tyrant..Who casts thy mangled ears and nose a prey To hungry dogs, and lops the man away. 1733 Revolution Politicks vii. 7 He would never be at Peace till he had lopped the Queen off shorter by the Head. 1742 Young Nt. Th. i. 251 Some,..In battle lopt away, with half their limbs, Beg bitter bread. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. xxiv, A man in the malting business had tried to take up the brewer's work, and lop the King, and the Duke of York. |
2. To cut off (the branches, twigs, etc.) from a tree; to shorten by cutting off the extremities. Also (now chiefly) with away, off.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. iv. 64 Superfluous branches We lop away, that bearing boughes may liue. 1611 Bible Isa. x. 33 The Lord of hostes shall lop the bough with terrour. 1651 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. xiii. 118 He lopped off the tops as they sprang up. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 630 Branches overgrown, That..require More hands then ours to lop thir wanton growth. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. x. 415 Their masts are made of trees,..fashioned..by barking them, and lopping off their branches. 1808 Scott Marm. vi. xi, As wood-knife lops the sapling spray. 1830 Cunningham Brit. Paint. I. 221 Lop carefully away all wild or over-flourishing branches. 1870 Bryant Iliad II. xxi. 281 Lopping with an axe the boughs of a wild fig-tree. 1874 C. Geikie Life in Woods iii. 41 We had to lop off the branches. |
b. transf. and fig.; esp. To cut off (a person's limbs or head). Also in gen. sense, to cut off, reduce by cutting. Also with advbs. as away, down, off.
| c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxvi. v, The Lord..Who loppeth princes thoughts, prunes their affection. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 143 Alarbus limbs are lopt, And intrals feede the sacrifising fire. 1591 ― 1 Hen. VI, v. iii. 15 Ile lop a member off, and giue it you. 1608 Heywood Rape Lucrece i. ii, With bright steele Lop downe these interponents, that withstand The passage to our throane. 1656 Cowley Pref. to Wks. (1668) B iij b, Shakspear, Fletcher, Johnson, and many others; part of whose Poems I should take the boldness to prune and lop away. 1714 J. Macky Journ. Eng. (1724) II. v. 77 The Keeper..not to be absent..on Pain of 20 Shillings to be lopped off from his Salary. 1725 Pope Odyss. xxii. 240 Thee first the sword shall slay, Then lop thy whole posterity away. 1732 ― Ess. Man ii. 49 Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrescent parts Of all our Vices have created Arts. 1775 De Lolme Eng. Const. i. vi. (1784) 67 In their endeavours to lop off the despotic power. 1809 Crabbe Tales 74 The worthy George must now a cripple be; His leg was lopp'd. 1846 Landor Imag. Conv., Southey & Landor Wks. 1846 II. 67, I would lop off the whole from ‘Spirits of purest light’ v. 661, to 831. 1864 Hawthorne Grimshawe xx. (1891) 265 It will not lop off any part of your visit to me. |
3. absol. or intr. Also fig.
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iv. 17 What sterne vngentle hands Hath lopt, and hew'd, and made thy body bare Of her two branches. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 189 One plowing, another harrowing, another sowing, and lopping. 1651 [see lop n.2 1]. 1856 S. Winkworth Life Tauler ix. (1857) 249 They leave the roots of vice and evil dispositions alive in the heart, and hew and lop at poor nature, and thereby destroy this noble vineyard. |
† 4. trans. ‘To cut partly off and bend down; as to lop the trees or saplings of a hedge’. Obs. (? or some error).
| 1828 in Webster; and in later Dicts. |
▪ X. lop, v.2
(lɒp)
[Perh. of onomatopœic origin; cf. lob v., which is closely akin in sense; also lap n.]
1. a. intr. To hang loosely or limply; to droop; to flop or sway limply about. Also to lop out: to protrude in an ungraceful or lop-sided manner.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lxxxiii. 123 Nine or ten yellow floures..hanging lopping downewardes. 1854 Blackw. Mag. LXXV. 524 Three exterior walls encompass it, and an eccentric work lops out at either side. 1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. xx. 230 These [sheep] filed in about nine o'clock, their vermiculated horns lopping gracefully on each side of their cheeks. 1882 Century Mag. XXIII. 652 The señora tried to brace up triumphantly, but could only lop about in her saddle. 1892 Harper's Mag. June 17/1 His under jaw lopped, and his brow contracted. 1892 Temple Bar Jan. 36 Her..figure was rather disguised than set off by garments that fell lopping round her. |
b. trans. To droop (the ears).
| 1828 Webster s.v., A horse lops his ears. 1864 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XXV. ii. 556 The animals..do not lop their ears, nor droop their heads. |
2. a. intr. To move in a slouching manner; to ‘hang about’ idly. Also to lop about.
| 1587 M. Grove Pelops & Hipp. (1878) 122 To take the vewe this boyish clowne dyd nothing aye appall,.. But loppeth to the vpper end, his cap vpon his head. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. viii, She..cried about it, she did, and lopped round, as if she'd lost every friend she had. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet i. x. (1883) 74 Some debauched, idle fellow who lies and lops about all day. |
b. to lop down, to sit down, to lie down. U.S. colloq.
| 1839 C. M. Kirkland New Home ii. 17 Jist come in, and take off your things, and lop down, if you're a mind to. 1861 Mrs. Stowe Pearl of Orr's Island I. viii. 67 Ruby said she thought she'd just lop down a few minutes on the old sofa. 1892 F. P. Humphrey New Eng. Cactus 34 You'd best lop down on the lounge and get a nap. |
3. With mixture of the sense of lope v.: To move with short irregular bounds.
| 1895 K. Grahame Gold. Age 102 The staidest of the rabbits was lopping demurely about the grass. 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 91 Lopping easily along, a fox crosses through the teazles. |
4. Comb.: lop-brimmed adj. lop-eaves, eaves which hang down at the sides; lop-grass (also simply lop) dial., Bromus mollis (cf. lob grass, lob n.2 6); lop-rabbit (see lop n.7). Also lop-ear, lop-eared.
| 1901 S. E. White Westerners xvi. 131 His broad hat—straight-brimmed in a *lop-brimmed camp—was pushed to one side. |
| 1880 Scribner's Mag. Feb. 491 A most picturesque old dwelling, with low *lop-eaves. |
| c 1832 Glouc. Farm Rep. 14 in Husbandry (L.U.K. 1840) III, All the seeds of grass, *lop-grass, and other seeds, which come up amongst the barley. 1883 in Hampsh. Gloss. 1886 Britten & Holland Plant-n., Lob, or Lop Grass. Bromus mollis... It is sometimes called simply Lop. |
| 1884 R. O. Edwards Rabbits vii. 52 The *Lop Rabbit. |
▪ XI. lop, v.3
(lɒp)
[Cf. lop n.6]
intr. Of water: To break in short lumpy waves. Cf. lopping ppl. a.3
| 1897 Westm. Gaz. 24 Aug. 7/2 The bow is being canvassed over to prevent, as much as possible, the water lopping in. |
▪ XII. lop, v.4 dial.
(lɒp)
Also 6 loppe.
[Cogn. w. ON. hlǫup (hlaup) coagulation, hl{obar}ypa to curdle.]
intr. To curdle. (Cf. lopper v. 1.)
| 1570 Levins Manip. 169/16 To Loppe as milk, coagulare. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Lop, to curdle, applied to milk that curdles without the application of an acid. |