▪ I. collop1
(ˈkɒləp)
Forms: 4–5 colope, colhoppe, 4–6 coloppe, colloppe, (5 colepe, colype), 5–6 colop, 6 colup, collup, 6–7 collap, collopp, 7 collope, 5– collop.
[Derivation obscure. Ihre has Sw. kollops ‘edulii genus, confectum ex carnis fragmentis, tudite lignea probe contusis et maceratis’; mod.Sw. kalops slices of beef stewed; Grimm has Ger. klops a dish made of beaten (geklopftem) meat, a steak. These seem to be the same word, but the latter is commonly associated with Ger. klopfen to beat.
Connexion with the Romanic colpo, OF. colp, F. coup, is not very likely phonetically. Minsheu's notion, that the first part is col- coal, suits the early sense, and L. carbonella.]
† 1. An egg fried on bacon; fried ham and eggs.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 272, I haue no salt Bacon, Ne no Cokeneyes, bi Crist Colopus to maken [v.r. colopis, -es, colhoppis; B. vi. 287 coloppes; C. ix. 309 colhoppes]. 1393 Ibid. C. xvi. 67 And ete meny sondry metes..bacon and colhoppes [v.r. coloppes, colloppus, colopis; B. xiii. 63 egges yfryed with grece]. 1530 Palsgr. 207/1 Colloppe, meate, œuf au lard. |
b. Afterwards called collops and eggs, ‘collop’ being applied to the slice of bacon by itself.
| 1542 Boorde Dyetary xvi. (1870) 273 Bacon is good for carters and plowmen..but and yf they haue the stone..coloppes and egges is as holsome for them, as a talowe candell is good for a horse mouth. 1586 Cogan Haven Health cxciii. (1636) 174 Collops and egges..is an usuall dish toward shrovetide. 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. (Percy Soc.) 105 Ile cut thee out in collops and egges, in steakes, in sliste beefe, and frye the with the fyer. 1611 Cotgr., Des œufs à la riblette, egges and collops; or an Omelet or Pancake of egges and slices of bacon mingled, and fried together. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 475 Collops and eggs, for dinner. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Collops and eggs, fried bacon and eggs. |
c. Collop Monday, the day before Shrove Tuesday, on which fried bacon and eggs still form the appropriate dish in many places.
| 1769 De Foe Tour Gt. Brit. III. 300 The Monday preceding Fastens Even..called every-where in the North Collop Monday, from an immemorial Custom there of dining that Day on Eggs and Collops. 1805 R. Anderson Cumberld. Ball., Sally Gray, note, The first Monday before Lent is..called Collop-Monday; and the first Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday. 1855 Whitby Gloss., Collop Monday, egg and bacon feast day, the day before Shrove Tuesday. |
† d. See quot. Obs.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 149/35 A collip, cremium [Cremium, what remains dry in the pan after frying anything, rendering of suet or the like (Du Cange).] |
2. A slice of meat fried (frixa) or broiled (carbonella); a slice for frying or broiling. Still dial.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 88 Colloppe, frixitura, in frigo, assa, carbonacium, carbonella. 1468 Medulla Gram. in Cath. Angl. 72 Frixa, a colop, or a pece off flesch. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 24 Soom doe slise owt collops on spits yeet quirilye trembling. 1611 Cotgr., Griblettes, Collops. 1660 Blount Boscobel 35 His Majesty cut some of it [mutton] into Collops..called for a Frying-pan and butter, and fry'd the collops himself. 1859 E. Waugh Lanc. Songs, ‘Come Whoam’ (Lanc. Gloss.) There's some nice bacon collops o'th hob, An' a quart o' ale-posset i' th' oon. |
b. Without any reference to mode of cooking: A slice of meat.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. II. 19/1 If a man, saie they, had eaten a collop of Adam his leg, he had eaten flesh. 1641 Depos. R. Maxwell in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 419 At the Siege of Augher, they would not kill any English Beast and then eat it, but they cut Collops out of them being alive. 1681 S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 32 Collope of live-horses hips. 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece i. ii. 115 Cut your Plaice in six Collops. 1777 Brand Pop. Antiq. (1849) I. 62 Slices of this kind of meat [salted, dried, or hung] are to this day termed collops in the North, whereas they are called steaks when cut off from fresh or unsalted flesh. 1845 Thackeray Crit. Rev. Wks. 1886 XXIII. 78, I have often..cut off great collops of the smoking beeves. 1855 Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘I'll cut you into collops’, a threat of chastisement to children. 1888 Berksh. Gloss., Collop, a rather thick slice of meat. [So in most northern dial. glossaries.] |
| fig. 1795 G. Wakefield Reply 2nd Pt. Age of Reason 33 Interlarded with nauseous collops of self-applause. |
c. locally. Meat cut into small pieces. Scotch collops: ‘a savoury dish made of slic'd veal, bacon, forc'd meat and several other ingredients’ (Bailey 1730–6); now, a steak with onions. minced collops (Sc.): minced meat, mince.
| a 1648 Digby Closet Open. (1677) 164 So that the collops be so short that they scarce hang together. Ibid. (1669) 199 My Lord of Bristol's Scotch Collops are thus made. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 73 To warm up Scotch Collops. 1850 W. Irving Goldsmith iv. 60 A fried steak..collops with onion sauce. 1863 Times 6 Apr., The beefsteaks minced and stewed become ‘hot collops’. |
† 3. transf. A piece of flesh. Obs.
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 23 It is a deere colup That is cut out of th'owne flesh. a 1631 Donne Serm. xcvi. IV. 255 That a Martyr..shd. send me..a Collop of his flesh wrapped up in a half-sheet of Paper. 1666 Third Advice to Painter 21 When the rude Bullet a large collop tore Out of that Buttock, never turned before. |
b. Used of offspring.
| c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. (Percy Soc.) 11 Tyburne collopes, and peny pryckers. 1569 J. Rogers Gl. Godly Loue (Shaks. Soc. 1876) 186 In their children do the Parents liue (in a manner) after their death. For they dye not all togethers that leaue collops of their owne flesh aliue behinde them. 1571 Campion Hist. Irel. ii. x. 134 Were they never so deare collopps of your owne flesh and bloud. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 137 To say this Boy were like me..Most dear'st, my Collop. |
4. A thick fold of flesh on the body as evidence of a well-fed condition. Now Sc. and dial.
| 1560 Bible (Genev.) Job xv. 27 He hathe covered his face with his fatnes, and hathe collopes in his flancke [1611 collops of fat on his flankes]. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven 172. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 515 The collop next to the neck [of a swine] ought to be broad and stiffe. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) I. 166 Fat folk (whose collops stick to their sides) are generally lazy, whilst leaner people are of more activity. 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 19. 3/2 We'll warrant they'll pull down your Collop. 1730–6 Bailey s.v., He has lost a Collop, he is fallen away, he is grown lean. |
5. fig. A slice; a piece cut off, a cantle.
| 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 116 To make them restore back such a collop out of their gain. 1602 Rowlands Greene's Cony-catcher 9 These Batfowlers or Conicatchers hauing lost a collop of their liuing. 1654 Gataker Disc. Apol. 28 Had I been greedie of anie such fat collops, out of the Bishops or Deans Lands. 1703 Penn in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 212 The collops cut out of my own and my son's and daughter's concerns. |
b. Piece of business, piece of luck. dial.
| 1876 Whitby Gloss., Collop, a portion. ‘It will be a costly collop to them’, an expensive undertaking. 1877 N.W. Lincolnsh. Gloss. s.v., Here's a collop! Maister Edward's pull'd water-tub tap out, an' Monday's wesh-day. |
† 6. A clot of mucus from the nose or throat.
| 1589 Nashe Pasquil & Marf. 20 One cause of Martinisme, is a collop that dropt out of Mydas nose, a desire of Gold. 1611 Cotgr., Glagou, a dot, a collop of flegme spet out. |
7. Comb. collop-cake dial. (see quot.); Collop-Monday (see 1 c.).
| 1877 Holderness Gloss., Collop-keeaks, cakes made of two layers of paste, with bacon or ham between. |
▪ II. ‖ collop2 Anglo-Irish.
Also 7 colp, 9 collip.
= Irish colpa, ‘A full-grown beast of the horse or cow kind. Six sheep are also called a colpa, as their grass is estimated as the same as that of a full-grown cow or horse’ (O'Donovan Suppl. to O'Reilly). Hence, as a standard of agricultural value, a cow's grass or pasture for a year, or its equivalent, reckoned in the case of good land as equivalent to an Irish acre.
| 1672 Sir W. Petty Pol. Anat. Irel. (1691) 107 As to their..Plough-lands, Colps..etc., they are all at this day become unequal. 1835 T. Bermingham Soc. State Gt. Brit. & Irel. 140 Formerly..in Ireland..the grazing-land was regulated by so many head of cattle to each portion, called collips. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Collop..a term for four or five sheep. 1880 Daily News 21 Dec. 5/4 Wherever grass grows there will a Kerry calf or ‘collop’ be found. 1882 Correspondent, The number of animals which an Irish acre of pasture can support is called a ‘sum’ or ‘collop’. |