ˈswan-ˌupping
Also corruptly swan-hopping, q.v.
[See upping vbl. n.]
The action or practice of ‘upping’ or taking up swans and marking them with nicks on the beak in token of being owned by the crown or some corporation.
| [1570 in Archaeologia (1847) XXXII. 428 The Maister of the Swannes is to haue for euery white Swanne and gray vpping a penny.] 1810 J. T. Smith Bk. Rainy Day (1861) 194 Swan-upping..has been changed..into Swan-hopping. 1885 Pall Mall G. 2 Feb. 1/2 The ‘swan-uppings’ on the Thames of the Vintners and Dyers. |
So ˈswan-ˌupper, an official who takes up and marks swans.
| 1557–8 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 272 The charges goynge w{supt} the swane uppers iij dayes vj s. iiij d. 1913 Standard 25 July 13 The little company of swan-uppers which annually leaves Southwark. |