▪ I. stoup
(stuːp)
Forms: α. (chiefly Sc. and north.) 4–6 stowpe, 6–9 stowp, 6 stolp, 6–7, 9 stoupe, 6– stoup; β. 6–7 stoope, 7–9 stoop; γ. (4 Latin stopa), 5–8 stope, 6–7 stoap(e; δ. Sc. 6 stoip, 7 stoype.
[a. ON. staup neut. (Norw. staup, Sw. stop) = OE. stéap masc., MDu. stoop masc. (Du. stoop masc. and fem.), MLG. stôp masc., OHG., MHG. stouf (mod.G. dial. stauf masc.):—OTeut. *staupo-. Cf. stop n.1
Prob. some of the forms are due to the influence of the MDu. or MLG. equivalent: see note to sense 2.]
1. A pail or bucket; also water-stoup. Now only Sc. † Formerly also, a large jar or small cask for holding liquids. (Cf. stop n.1 1.)
| α 1397 in Finchale Priory Charters etc. (Surtees) p. cxvii, Item iiij stowpes de coreo. 1574 in Richmond Wills (Surtees) 247 In the brewe house..vij. seaes, ij skiles, ij. stoupes. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Bannatyne Club) I. 44 It is said that their sister, with ane trein stoup, slew ane called Mercer..Dumbar. 1708 Invent. in E. D. Dunbar Soc. Life Former Days (1865) 212 A laddle, a watter stoup, three cies. 1822 Galt Provost xxxiii, Even lasses were fleeing to and fro, like water nymphs with urns, having stoups and pails in their hands. 1912 R. M. Ferguson Ochil Fairy Tales 13 Two wooden stoups or pitchers full of water. |
| β 1634 Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 53 Here along this passage are thirty-six stoopes placed at equal distances. |
| γ [1390 Earl Derby's Exped. (Camden) 9 Pro j stopa et di. mellis. Ibid. 14 Pro vijxx viij stopis vini Rochell.] 1411 in Finchale Priory Charters etc. (Surtees) p. clvi, Item vj tankards et j stope de corio. 1427–8 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 142 In iij. ollis nuncupatis Stopez. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 728/28 Hec cupa, a stope. 1554 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. X. 234 Item, for platis, dischis, bukatis, and stopis, xv s. 1595 Duncan App. Etym. (E.D.S.), Amphora, a stope. |
2. A drinking-vessel, of varying dimensions; a cup, flagon, tankard. Also as a measure of definite quantity; often with defining word, as
gill stoup,
pint stoup,
quart stoup. Now
Sc. and
north., and as a literary archaism. (
Cf. stop n.1 3.)
In some of the
quots. used to represent a foreign form,
e.g. Du. stoop,
Sw. stop.
| α 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xl. 26 Off wyne owt of ane choppyne stowp, They drank twa quartis, sowp and sowp. 1533 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VI. 179 For mending of ane of the Kingis silver stolpis..viij s. 1543–4 Extracts Burgh Rec. Edin. (1871) II. 115 Stowppis of mesour. 1573 Sc. Acts Jas. VI, c. 57 (1597) 27 Everie Barrell of herring and quhit-fisch, [sall] conteine nine gallones of the samin stope. 1586 Extracts Burgh Rec. Edin. (1882) IV. 475 All persouns quha hes any fals stowpes clowrit in the sydes. 1610 Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady ii. ii, Lets haue a bridling cast before you goe. Fils a new stoupe. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 286 Each Student in the Vniversitie hath eighty measures of wine (vulgarly called Stoup) allowed him free from imposition. 1638 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 315/1 To mark and stamp all firlottis..quart-stoupis, pynt, chopein and mutchekin stoupis. 1721, 1786 [see mutchkin b]. 1754 E. Burt Lett. N. Scot. (1818) I. 157 Their capacious pint pot which they call a stoup. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Stoup,..a vessel containing a size or half a pint, is so called at Cambridge. 1814 Scott Wav. xvi, The Baron ordered a stoup of usquebaugh. 1879 ‘Ouida’ Cecil Castlemaine 7 Scarce stopping for a stoup of wine. 1895 J. C. Snaith Mistr. Dorothy Marvin xxvii, A big stoup o' cider. |
| β 1589 Hakluyt Voy. 824 Also they shal sell wines by the pype, and by the gallon, quart, or Stoope they shall not sell [in Russia]. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 14 Marian I say, a stoope of wine. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 62 For each measure of wine..I paid ten grosh, which measure is called a stoope, and is somewhat bigger then the English quart. 1708 W. King Art of Cookery 85 A cauldron of fat beef, and stoop of ale. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. ii. xi. 51 Liquors are sold by the stoop, of which three are equal to an English gallon. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 3 Sept., This is brought in a pewter stoop, shaped like a skittle. 1864 D. G. Mitchell Wet Days 131 The monks might send him now and then a stoop of their wine. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. xxix, Parson took a stoop of cider. |
| γ 1452 Paston Lett. Suppl. (1901) 44 Ye shul have a stope of bere to comforte yow. c 1483 Caxton Dialogues 7 Cannes de deux lots, Cannes of two stope,..Lotz et demy lotz, Stopes and half stopes. 1502 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. II. 295 Ane tyn quart and ane poynt stopes. 1533 Ibid. VI. 165 For iij quart stopis, xviij d. 1591 [? Nashe] Prognostication B 3, Englishe Beere shall there [in Denmark] be woorth fiue pence a stoape. 1592 Greene Black Bks. Messenger Ep. Rdr., He would steale ouer in to the Lowe Countries, there to tast three or foure Stoapes of Rhenish wine. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 278 Set me the Stopes of wine vpon that Table. 1609 Dekker Gull's Horn-bk. Proem. 4 The Switzers stoap of Rhenish. 1657 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 38 Tow silver stoapes. 1673 Dryden Amboyna v. i, [Dutchman loq.] Boy, give me some Tobacco, and a stope of Wine. 1713 Phil. Trans. XXIX. 57, 30 Rotterdam Stopes (making each about 3 English Quarts). |
| δ 1530 in A. Laing Abbey of Lindores (1876) 490 It. iiij half gallonis stoippis, xj q{supr}t stoippis iiij poynt stoppis. ? a 1550 Freiris of Berwick 66 in Maitland Poems (1786) 67 Dame, fill ane stoip of aile. 1663 Invent. Ld. J. Gordon's Furniture, Twa quart stoypes. |
3. A vessel to contain holy-water,
usu. a stone basin set in or against the wall of the church-porch, or within the church close to the entrance-door.
The form
stoup is modern. It represents the earlier
stop,
stope: see γ below and
stop n.1 2;
cf. stock n.1 21.
| α 1793 Denne in Archæologia XI. 131 The holy-water stoup, fixed near the doors of churches, is sometimes called labrum. Ibid. 150, 365 note. 1829 Bloxam Princ. Gothic Archit. xi. 65. 1848 Lytton Harold iv. vi, Near the doorway..was the stoupe or aspersorium for holy-water. 1899 Q. Rev. Apr. 470 The famous alliance between the stoup and the sabre, which has reorganised the politics of France. |
| β 1784 Denne in J. Thorpe Custumale Roffense (1788) 99 These basins or stoops were sometimes made of metal, but generally of stone. |
| γ 1500 Invent. Ch. Goods Canterb. in Gentl. Mag. (1837) Dec. 569/2 A stope, off lede, for the holy wat{supr} atte the churche dore. |
† 4. attrib., as
stoop-can,
stoup-glass.
Obs.| 1608 H. Clapham Errour Right Hand 53 See you that cherry-cheeked Damsell that tooke vp there the Stoop-kan. 1626 Bacon Sylva §796 Take a Stock-Gilly-Flower, and tye it gently vpon a Sticke, and put them both into a Stoope Glasse. |
▪ II. stoup obs. form of
stoop,
stupe.