▪ I. hopping, vbl. n.1
(ˈhɒpɪŋ)
[f. hop v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb hop, in various senses.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 379/79 At þis bruydale was plei i-nouȝh: song and gret hoppingue. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxxix. 6 Hoppynge & daunceynge of tumblers & herlotis. 1576 Newton Lemnie's Complex. i. ii. 10 b, Vndecent hopping and dauncing. 1879 H. Spencer Data Ethics x. §66. 181 The perpetual hoppings of the canary from bar to bar of its cage. |
2. A dance; a rural festival of which dancing forms a principal part.
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 3545 Men made song and hopinges, Ogain the come of this kinges. c 1570 Durham Depos. (Surtees) 102 The day that one John Fletcher of Chester made a hopping. 1686 G. Stuart Joco-ser. Disc. 32 To Horse-race, Fair, or Hoppin go. 1843 Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 11. 55 These feasts, or as they are called elsewhere in Northumberland, hoppings, are held on the festival day of the patron Saint. 1889 Archæol. æliana XIII. 322 At Newburn..the hopping is held about the feast of St. Margaret of Antioch. |
▪ II. hopping, vbl. n.2
[f. hop n.1 or v.2 + -ing1.]
1. The gathering of hops; hop-picking.
| 1717 Canterb. Parish Reg., St. George (ed. Cowper) 206 One Robert Northborn, a stranger came hopping [= a-hopping]. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. lxxxvii, The profession of hopping. 1880 Times 10 Sept. 9/4 The return of the hopping season. Ibid. 9/5 A labourer, with his wife and children, may make from {pstlg}6 to {pstlg}8 by ‘the hopping’. |
2. The flavouring of malt liquor with hops.
| 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 570 Of Boiling and Hopping. 1890 Daily News 14 Oct. 2/3 English hops suitable for fine ale brewing or dry hopping must prove to be in limited supply. 1894 Times 6 Mar. 4/1 When German hops were used for hopping down. |
▪ III. hopping, ppl. a.1
[f. hop v.1 + -ing2.]
1. That hops: see the verb.
| 1785 Burns Winter Night iv, Ilk happing bird. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 127 The little shrivelled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome insects of the hour. 1799 Coleridge Lett. (1895) 280 A little hopping, over-civil sort of thing. 1916 H. G. Wells Mr. Britling i. i. 24 The hopping inconsecutiveness of English conversation. |
2. Comb. hopping-dick, local name for a species of thrush (Merula leucogenys) common in Jamaica, resembling the blackbird in appearance and song (Maunder's Treas. Nat. Hist.(1874) 325); hopping-john (Southern U.S. and W. Indies), a stew of bacon with pease or pease and rice seasoned with red pepper; hopping mad a. (orig. dial. and U.S.), violently angry, so as to dance with rage.
| 1838 C. Gilman Recoll. Southern Matron xviii. 124 Before me..was an immense field of *hopping John. [Note. Bacon and rice.] 1856 Olmsted Slave States 506 The greatest luxury with which they are acquainted is a stew of bacon and peas, with red pepper, which they call ‘Hopping John’. 1969 Daily Tel. 13 May 24/6 The dinner consisted of such things as collard greens, fried chicken, water melon, cornbread and ‘hopping John’, a dish of black-eyed peas and rice that is supposed to bring luck. 1970 M. Slater Caribbean Cooking 32 ‘Peas and Rice’..is cooked on every island, down from the Bahamas, where it is known as Hoppin' John, to the South American mainland. |
| 1675 Cotton Scoffer Scoft 52, I us'd to make him *hopping mad. 1833 S. Smith Life & Writings Major J. Downing 139, I had a long talk with the General t'other day—he was hopping mad. a 1860 Widow Bedott Papers 275 (Bartlett) Miss Fustick said Liddy Ann was too old to wear plumes..which made Liddy hoppin' mad, and led to an awful quarrel. 1915 Wodehouse Psmith, Journalist vii. 44 Dey was hoppin'-mad, de whole bunch of dem. 1922 [see claim v. 2 c]. 1954 [see editor 3 b]. 1960 Guardian 7 July 8/5 Would-be [telephone] subscribers get hopping mad. 1973 B. Graeme Two & Two make Five vii. 67 Old Sourpuss must be hopping mad. |
3. = hopping mad.
| 1894 ‘Mark Twain’ in Century Mag. Jan. 338/1 Oh, my lan', ole Marse was jes a-hoppin'! 1942 I. Gleed Arise to Conquer vi. 57 David will be hopping. 1960 E. W. Hildick Boy at Window xi. 80, I was mad, real hopping! 1973 R. Hayes Hungarian Game xxxi. 185 ‘I wonder what they're fishing for.’ ‘Whales... And they got everyone hopping about it.’ |
Hence ˈhoppingly adv.
| 1598 Florio, Saltellone, hoppingly, skippingly. |
▪ IV. hopping, ppl. a.2
[f. hop v.2 + -ing2.]
Engaged in hop-picking.
| 1860 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xi, The whole country side..will swarm with hopping tramps. |