▪ I. stap, n. Sc. and north.
(stæp)
Forms: 6 steppe, 9 staup, stawp, step, stap.
[Of obscure origin.]
A stave of a tub or cask. Chiefly in fig. phrases: see quots.
| 1587 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) III. 522/1 Þat þe steppis of þe said firlot be of þe auld proportione, in thiknes of bayth the burdis, ane insche and ane half. 1808 Jamieson, Stap, Steppe, a stave. I'll tak a stap out of your coag, S. Prov., I'll put you on shorter allowance. 1821 Blackw. Mag. VIII. 432 But stoups are needed, tubs, and pails, and knaps, For all the old are ‘gisand’ into staps. 1825 Jamieson s.v., To fa' a' staps, to become extremely debilitated, q[uasi] to fall to pieces, like a vessel made of staves. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Stap, the stave of a tub. 1829 Hogg Sheph. Cal. I. vi. 170 Else I should take a staup out o' their punch cogs the night. 1846 Brockett's N.C. Gloss. (ed. 3) s.v., ‘To take a stap out of your bicker’ means to humble you. 1891 H. Johnston Kilmallie I. 96 It behoved me and the likes o' me to keep a calm sough, if we didna want a step taen oot o' our cog. |
▪ II. stap
affected pronunciation of stop v., in the phrase stap my vitals, used as an exclamation of surprise, anger, etc., or as an asseveration.
Prob. the first quot. is the source of the phrase. Lord Foppington, the speaker, pronounces a for o throughout. Cf. gad, egad, and the pronunciations ‘Laard’, ‘plaat’ (for Lord, plot) attributed to Titus Oates.
| 1696 Vanbrugh Relapse i. iii, Well, 'tis Ten Thousand Pawnd well given—stap my Vitals. 1716–20 Lett. Mist's Jrnl. (1722) I. 50 Thou art one of the most comical Dogs, stap my Vitals! that ever set Pen to Paper. 1730 Fielding Author's Farce iii. 34 My Life went out in a Hiss—Stap my Breath. Ibid. 46 And so all my Puns, and Quibbles, and Conundrums are quite forgotten, stap my Vitals. 1839 Thackeray Catherine i, Stap my vitals, my dear, but there was a lady..who had a hoop as big as a tent. 1901 Graphic Christmas No. 24/2 'Tis a trick of theirs. Stap me, we shall have 'em yet. |
▪ III. stap
Sc. form of stop n. and v.