ˈtapnet, † topnet
[In 16th c. topnet, app. altered from toppet (tappet) q.v. Cf. tap n.3]
A basket made of rushes, in which figs (formerly also raisins, etc.) are imported; also a conventional measure of quantity; = frail n.1
| α 1524 in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 535/4 [Figs] Topnets. 1537 in J. H. Blunt Myrr. oure Ladye Introd. 31 Dyuerse sortes of Spices and fruyttes..Nutmygges..Corans..Gynger..Isonglas..Figge doodes v Topnettes ij lb.—xj s. ix d. c 1550 Customs Duties (B.M. Add. MS. 25097), Figgs dodes, the topnet, xx d. 1882 Rogers Agric. & Prices IV. 671 Between 1516 and 1540 the price of figs by the toppet or topnet is a little over 2s. 3d... Such a price..suggests..that the toppet contained about 30 lbs., and that it corresponds to the earlier frail... In 1533 figs are bought by the topnet at Cambridge and by the frail at Stonor, at the same price, 2s. 6d. |
| β 1553 W. Cholmeley Request & Suite true-hearted Eng. in Camden Misc. II. 17 Fyggis at xxd the tapnet. 1556 W. Towrson in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 99 Three Tapnets of figges, two pots of oyle. 1682 Privil. Citizens Lond. 71 For Tapnets and Frails of Figs per Ton..xx d. 1812 J. Smyth Pract. of Customs (1821) 88 Frails, or Tapnets, are baskets made of rushes. 1858 in Simmonds Dict. Trade. 1910 Grocer, Diary 47/1 Figs, Faro, tapnets, 28 lbs. |
| attrib. 1578 Lyte Dodoens v. lxxxi. 652 Currantes or Raysens of Corinthe, do not much differ in vertue, from tapnet or frayle Raysens. |