▪ I. neep
(niːp)
Forms: 1 nǽp, 1, 4–5 nep, 4–7 nepe, 5–6 neppe, Sc. neip, 5– neep, (9 neap).
[OE. nǽp, ad. L. nāpus nape n.3 ON. næpa (still in mod. Norw. and Icel.) was prob. adopted from English.]
1. A turnip. Also attrib.
The usual name in all Sc. dialects, and current in Northumberland and some southern counties.
c 725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) N 40 Napis, naep. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 214 Healde hine þonne..wiþ pisan, & beana, & næpas. 13.. S.E. Leg. (MS. Bodl. 779) in Herrig Archiv LXXXII. 335/68 Al his lyf to penaunce þis goodman haþ I-dyȝt; xv. nepus he et ech day. c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 236 Man in the ȝerde pullith nepus. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. ix. 29 Now rape and neep in places drie is sowe. c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. x. (Fox & Wolf) xxiv, Quhite as ane neip, and round als as ane seill. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 171 Porettis, tame nepis, and parcely, and other erbis off medecyn. 1544 T. Phaer Regim. Life (1553) I iv, Nepes also and rapes and radyshe..maye bee well inoughe permitted. 1674 Blount Glossogr. (ed. 4), Nepe, a turnip or navew. The word is still retein'd in Herefordshire. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) II. 167 As round as a Neep come todlen hame. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 207 Juicy neeps that melt in the mooth o' their ain accord. 1871 C. Gibbon Lack of Gold xviii, The laddies paraded the village with neep-lanterns. 1887 P. M{supc}Neill Blawearie 112 You might as well send a hungry stirk into a field among neeps, and expect it not to eat. |
† 2. wild neep, (see quots. and nep n.2). Also English neep (?). Obs.
c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 135 Napa siluatica, sperewyrt, vel wilde næp. Ibid. 136 Diptamnus, vel bibulcos, wilde næp. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 12 To wensealfe nim..hræmnes fot, ængliscne næp & finul. a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 13 Brionia, wilde nepe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 353/1 Nepe, herbe, coloquintida, cucurbita. |
▪ II. neep, neer
obs. forms of neap, near.