▪ I. slop, n.1
(slɒp)
Also 4–7 sloppe, 4, 6 slope, 7 slopp.
[Of obscure history. Sense 2 corresponds to MDu. slop, OIcel. sloppr, and appears earlier in the OE. compound oferslop (MDu. overslop, OIcel. yfirsloppr): see overslop. The relation of the other senses to this is not clear.]
† 1. A charmed bag employed to steal milk from cows. Obs. rare.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 522 Þere was a wycche, and made a bagge... Þys wycche here charme began to sey, Þe slop ros up, and ȝede þe weye. Ibid. 537 Þe sloppe lay stylle, as hyt ded wore. |
2. a. An outer garment, as a loose jacket, tunic, cassock, mantle, gown, or smock-frock.
For modern examples
cf. the
Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Slop n.2 1.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶422 The..scantnesse of clothyng as been thise kutted sloppes or haynselyns. c 1440 York Myst. xxxi. 77 Se þat my sloppe be wele sittande. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 460/1 Sloppe, garment, mutatorium. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxi. 466 Gyve me a newe sloppe and a large hode. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clxxvi. 213 He armed hymselfe with secrete armour, and dyd on a sloppe aboue, and a cloke aboue that. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 55 b, The mantels had great capes like to the Portingal slopys. a 1618 Sylvester Hymn of Alms 195 Wks. (Grosart) II. 210 To see some painted face, Or Fire⁓new Fashion in a Sleeve or slop. a 1668 Davenant News fr. Plymouth iv. i, I will embrace thy long loose slopp and kiss Thy drivell'd Beard. 1825 Knapp & Baldwin Newgate Cal. III. 448/2 A slop or shirt over it. 1841 Borrow Zincali i. i, He was dressed in a coarse waggoner's slop. 1881 Young Ev. Man his own Mechanic 12 The clothes of the amateur..should be protected at least by a loose ‘slop’ or jacket of canvas. |
† b. spec. (See
quot.)
Obs.—1| 15.. Bk. of Precedence in Q. Eliz. Acad. 28 A slope is a morning Cassock for Ladyes and gentile wemen, not open before. |
† c. (See
quot.)
Obs.—0| 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 395/2 A Womans face proper, with a Slop on her head..; the attire..makes me judge it to be rather some kind of Slop or Maunch for the head... Some term this a French Hood pendant. |
† 3. pl. Some kind of foot-wear.
Obs. rare.
| 1480 Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV (1830) 118 A paire of sloppes of blac leder, v d. 1483 in Antiq. Rep. (1807) I. 42, ij pair of shoon, ij pair of slops, and viij paire of botews of Spaynysh leder. |
4. a. pl. Wide baggy breeches or hose, of the kind commonly worn in the 16th and early 17th
cent.; loose trousers,
esp. those worn by sailors. Now chiefly
dial. In the Geneva, Bishops', and Douay Bibles
sloppes is employed in rendering
Isa. iii. 20, where the AV. has ‘the ornaments of the legges’ and the RV. ‘the ankle chains’. For some particulars relating to the history of the garment, see Fairholt
Costume I. 237, 263, etc., and
cf. the
Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Slop n.2 3.
| 1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 518 For the same Magnus a whyt cote, a payre sloppes. 1530 Palsgr. 271/2 Sloppes, hosyn, brayes a marinier. 1558 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 19, viii paire of Sloppes parted, the one legge of the said blewe clothe of golde and the other of greene clothe of Silver. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 60 He had nothing vpon him but a paire of sloppes, and vpon his bodie a Goate-skinne. 1608 Willet Hexapla Exod. 656 The two sloppes or breeches were tied and knit together about the middle. 1656 W. Dugard tr. Commenius' Gate Lat. Unl. 109 Below the girdle are the breeches, that is, either slops,..or trusses somwhat strait. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Slops, a wide sort of Breeches worn by Seamen. 1820 Scott Monast. xvi, Two pair black silk slops, with hanging garters of carnation silk. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Dead Drummer (1905) 338 He would give an occasional hitch, Sailor-like to his ‘slops’. |
| transf. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. iv. ii, Sirrha, you ballad-singer, and slops, your fellow there, get you out. |
† b. sing. in the same sense, or denoting only one leg of the garment.
Obs.| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 193 The man..Werth on eche legge, one male, for his sloppes are, Eche one sloppe one male. 1565 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 306 A lyning of Cotton stytched to the Sloppe over & besydes the lynnen lynyng straytt to the legg. 1580–3 Greene Mamillia i. Wks. (Grosart) II. 19 Their narrow shoulders must haue a quilted Dublet of a large sise:..their crooked legges, a side sloppe. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. v. Wks. 1856 I. 61 When I see..another wallowe in a greate sloppe, I mistrust the proportion of his thigh. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 175/1 His gay slop hath no sooner kist the Cushions, but..he hath neuer left Roaring, row, row, row. 1652 News Lowe-Co. 2 The French Trunck sometimes doth him house, The Dutch Slopp, and the Irish Trouse. |
† c. The loose or wide part of a pair of breeches of this kind.
Obs. rare.
| 1592 R. Greene Conny Catch. ii. 5 So quaintly and artificially made, that it may bee put in y⊇ slop of a mans hose. 1592 ― Upst. Courtier (1871) 10 A plain pair of Cloth-Breeches.., straight to the thigh,..without a slop. |
5. a. pl. Ready-made clothing and other furnishings supplied to seamen from the ship's stores; hence, ready-made, cheap, or inferior garments generally.
| 1663 Pepys Diary 16 Mar., Advising upon the business of Slopps, wherein the seaman is so much abused by the pursers. 1764 Comm. Byron Voy. in Hawkesworth I. 9 The men..who had contrived to sell not only all their warm clothes, but their bedding,..now applied in great distress for slops. 1799 Nelson 16 Feb. in Nicolas Disp. (1845) III. 267 Slops are not to be purchased here but at an enormous price. 1847 L. Hunt Men, Women, & B. I. ii. 22 A young sailor, with a face innocent of everything but a pride in his slops. 1878 Besant & Rice By Celia's Arbour xxx, He used to sell his slops for brandy, and cobble his old garments with the brown canvas of the sandbags. |
| fig. 1791 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Rights of Kings Proemium, That a Monarch's wife yclept a Queen May not..be a downright Slop, Form'd of the coarsest rags of Nature's shop? 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) IV. 348 In the Roman law, the clergy had been used to see a sort of warehouse, in which slops of all sorts were to be had ready⁓made. |
b. sing. in collective use, or denoting a single garment of this kind.
| 1798 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Tales of the Hoy Wks. 1812 IV. 385 When the Men of Slop The Jew and Gentile turn towards their shop In alleys dark. 1887 Besant The World went x. 84 He wore a common sailor's petticoat or slop. |
6. Used as a term of
contempt. rare.
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuff Wks. (Grosart) V. 240 Not a slop of a ropehaler they send forth to the Queenes ships, but hee is first broken to the Sea in the Herring mans Skiffe or Cock-boate. |
7. attrib. and
Comb. a. In senses 2 and 4, as
slop-frock,
† slop-hose [
cf. MDu. slophose],
slop-pouch.
| 1530 Palsgr. 251 Payre of sloppe hoses. 1565 R. Onslow in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 306 A sloppe-hose not cutte in panes. 1821 Scott Kenilw. iv, This purse has all that is left of as round a sum as a man would wish to carry in his slop-pouch. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 68 With slop⁓frock suiting to the ploughman's taste. 1837 Lincoln Herald 17 Jan. 2/2 John Cowley, indicted for stealing at Binbrook, one slop frock and one hat. 1851 Sternberg Northampt. Dial., Slop frock, a smock-frock. |
b. In combs. relating to seamen's slops, or to cheap ready-made garments, as
slop-boat,
slop-book,
slop-chest,
slop-clothes,
slop-clothing, etc.
| 1823 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 21/2 A large stock of rum was immediately laid in from the circumambient *slop⁓boats. |
| 1755 Abstr. Act in M.P.'s Let. on R.N. 14 Five..Pay-books shall be..made out.., and a *Slop-book. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 633 Slop-Book, a register of the slop clothing, soap, and tobacco, issued to the men; also of the religious books supplied. |
| 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxix. 102 Having begun the voyage with very few clothes, he had taken up the greater part of his wages in the *slop-chest. 1874 Law Times' Rep. XXXI. 20/2 They had each received..6 dollars from the slop chest on the voyage. |
| 1699 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 493 The deduction of 12d. in the pound by the paymaster for *slop cloaths..is without warrant. 1745 Proj. Manning of Navy 11 Sea-mens Wages are not Half consum'd in..Slop-Cloths. |
| 1802 D. Collins Acct. Eng. Colony in New S. Wales II. xiii. 131 For want of *slop clothing and bedding, indeed, they were much distressed. 1819 J. H. Vaux Mem. II. 109 After putting on each a suit of coarse slop-clothing, we were ironed and sent below. 1834 Tait's Mag. I. 416/1 One pound sterling is paid..as the price of his bedding and slop-clothing. |
| 1884 Spectator 737/2 Their cheapness is due to the fact that they are really ‘*slop goods’—goods, that is, produced at a price which cannot give the worker a decent maintenance. |
| c 1645 in Archaeologia LII. 134 A *slopmaker for Seamen neare Billingsgate. 1897 G. Allen Type-writer Girl xvi. 170, I told him of my work among the East-End slop-makers! |
| 1799 Hull Advertiser 12 Oct. 2/4, I, John Brown, of Kingston-upon-Hull, *Slopman. 1812 Examiner 4 May 280/2 F. Richmond,..taylor and slopman. |
| 1819 Shelley Peter Bell ii. iv, He did appear Like a *slop-merchant from Wapping. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Lab. III. 231/1, I could not meet with one woman ‘working a *slop-needle’. |
| c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 149 *Slop-room, the place appointed for the purser to keep the ship's slops in. c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 62 Slops and marine necessaries in the slop-room. |
| 1802 Naval Chron. VII. 447 The Resolve *slop ship was laid up in ordinary. 1813 Southey Nelson I. 74 His vessel was kept at the Nore.., serving as a slop and receiving ship. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Lab. III. 231/1 Working for *slop shirt-makers, &c., upon the coarser sorts of work. |
| 1851 Ibid. II. 23/1 The garret-master buys lasts to do the *slop-snobbing cheap. |
| 1861 Dickens Gt. Expect. xl, He was at present dressed in a seafaring *slop suit. |
| 1894 A. Morrison Mean Streets 132 His mother had had no *slop-waistcoat finishing to do for three or four days. |
| 1714 Lond. Gaz. No. 5272/9 Anne Lee, of Gosport.., *Slop⁓woman. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk 633 A short *slop wrapper, formerly called a sliving. |
c. slop-builder, a jerry-builder;
slop-built, jerry-built; loosely-made;
slop-chit Naut., a note offered at a ship's stores in exchange for clothing; also
transf., an expense sheet.
| 1835 Edinb. Rev. LX. 343 The temptation to construct what are called slop-built ships..is therefore quite irresistible. 1869 Latest News 5 Sept. 7 They were only contract built edifices by ‘slop builders’. 1903 W. Craig Adv. Austral. Goldfields 39 He was slop-built. 1946 ‘Tackline’ You met such Nice Girls in Wrens i. 11 Sailors come in at different times with what we call Slop-Chits, but which are really nothing but shopping lists. So the slop-chits are the things they want, such as shoes and socks and caps and things. 1969 S. Hyland Top Bloody Secret ii. 123 Superb autobahn all the way, and a reasonably fast car on his slopchit, made Karlsruhe almost one of the nearer suburbs. |
▪ II. slop, n.2 (
slɒp)
Also 8 (9
dial.)
slap.
[prob. representing an OE. *sloppe (cf. c{uacu}sloppe, var. of c{uacu}slyppe cowslip), related to slyppe slip n.1, and to sl{uacu}pan to slip.] 1. † a. A muddy place; a mud-hole.
Obs.—1| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3923 He..Slippes in in the sloppes o-slante to the girdylle. |
b. ? A splash of mud or slush.
| 1731 Gentl. Mag. I. 332 To walk through Rag Fair in dirty weather,..a jostle in one place, a slip in another, a slop in a third. |
c. Liquid mud; slush.
| 1796 Morse Amer. Geogr. I. 605 The inhabitants have to walk in almost perpetual slop. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Lab. II. 207/1 In wet weather the dirt swept or scraped to one side is so liquified that it is known as ‘slop’. 1891 Pall Mall G. 13 Jan. 1/2 Every one..viewed the accumulating slop..with a pious faith in its restoration in a few days. |
2. a. An act of spilling or splashing; a quantity of liquid spilled or splashed.
| 1727 Boyer Dict. Royal i, Faire un Gâchis, to make a slap, to wet a Room. 1782 F. Burney Diary 28 Dec., When she came there happened to be a great slop on the table. 1796 ― Camilla IV. 116 Don't mind it, I beg,..a little slop's soon wiped up. 1836 [Miss Maitland] Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 15 On the other side of it there was an immense slop oozing out from something. 1874 Mrs. Whitney We Girls vi. 121 There never was a slop on the stove, or a teaspoonful of anything spilled. |
b. Naut. A choppy sea, chop.
| 1956 Sun (Baltimore) 21 Nov. 23/6 Mostly southerlies, they pick up to twenty knots and kick up a good slop. 1974 F. Mowat Boat who wouldn't Float xi. 120 A slop was banging against her bows, giving her life and motion. 1977 Austral. Sailing Jan. 65/1 The Tornados and Hobie 16s revelled in the slop. |
3. a. Liquid or semi-liquid food of a weak, unappetizing kind; applied contemptuously to invalids' spoon-food, tea, etc. Now usually
pl.| sing. 1657 G. Starkey Helmont's Vind. 174 It is not every ridiculous slop that is a Medicine. 1786 F. Burney Diary 14 Aug., [She] exclaimed, ‘Oh dear, you've got no tea!’ Then pouring out a dish of slop, added [etc.]. 1801 tr. Gabrielli's Mysterious Husb. III. 59 The old woman..went down to prepare the slop. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 498 Full of slop as he is, the patient burns with thirst. |
| pl. c 1672 Wood Life, etc. (O.H.S.) I. 177 Much physick and slops being taken in the winter following. 1741 Richardson Pamela III. 332 He physicked himself out of his Life—He would be always taking Slops. 1798 Monthly Mag. Mar. 183 Tea, and thin chocolate, and such like enervating slops. 1829 Cobbett Adv. to Youth xxxi, Experience has taught me that those slops [tea, coffee, etc.] are injurious to health. 1863 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 158 The cold first came into my tongue, swelling it... I had to live on slops. |
b. colloq. (
orig. U.S.). Sentimentality, affected sensibility.
| 1866 ‘Mark Twain’ Lett. from Hawaii (1967) 33 You can go on writing that slop about balmy breezes and fragrant flowers, and all that sort of truck. 1917 E. Pound Let. Mar. (1971) 108, I would suggest that a series of this sort [sc. essays on French poets] by me, Eliot, and De Bosschère would at least keep out a certain amount of slop from the prose section. 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey i. xiii. 106 Sentiment being ‘slop’, and championship mere condescension. 1927 Sunday Express 24 July 4 ‘Seventh Heaven’, the swamp of sentiment into which the critics were invited to plunge a few days ago. Personally I should describe it as the sublimity of slop. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §265/1 Sentimentality,..slop. |
c. U.S. and
Austral. slang. Beer. Usu.
pl.| 1904 ‘No. 1500’ Life in Sing Sing 252/2 Slop, beer. 1919 Dialect Notes V. 42 Slops, beer. 1949 L. Glassop Lucky Palmer i. 5 Keep your shirt on. There's no harm in having a jug of slops, now is there? 1953 T. A. G. Hungerford Riverslake x. 197 His wife and both of his kids got burned to death when his house went up... They reckon that's what sent him onto the slops in the first place. 1963 Australasian Post 14 Mar. 51/2 Bung me and me mate over a droppa slops, will yer love? |
4. a. Refuse liquid of any kind; rinsings of tea, coffee, or other beverages; the dirty water, etc., of a household. Usu.
pl.| 1815 Scott Guy M. lii, He..threw the slops..into the sugar-dish instead of the slop-basin. 1848 Clough Bothie ii, The removal of slops to be ornamentally treated. 1882 G. Bloomfield Remin. (1883) I. xi. 336 The slops had never been emptied, so the rooms were anything but odoriferous. |
b. U.S. dial. and
colloq. Kitchen refuse or swill fed to cattle or pigs. Usu.
pl.| 1805 R. Parkinson Tour in America i. 39 It was natural for me to inquire, what they kept their cows and horses on during the winter. They told me—their horses on blades, and their cows on slops. 1912 T. Dreiser Financier xii. 127 A slop-man,..who could come with a great wagon filled with barrels and haul away the slops from your back door, was absolutely essential. 1961 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxxvi. 7 Slop, food for pigs. |
c. fig. Nonsense, rubbish; insolence.
| 1952 B. Malamud Natural 214 Roy tore it up and told the usher to take no more slop from him. 1978 J. Irving World according to Garp vi. 120 ‘Sometimes I feel it is my responsibility to say no,’ the editor was quoted as saying, ‘even if I know people do want to read this slop.’ |
5. Pottery.
= slip n.1 4.
| 1844 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. VII. 154/1 The halves of the mould are then put together, and the slop intended for the ground poured in. |
6. A dance (see
quot. 1962).
| 1962 Punch 16 May 761/1 In the Slop the partners face each other and perform rhythmic movements with feet stationary, the arms swinging pendulum-like in front of the body. 1966 T. Pynchon Crying of Lot 49 v. 131 Each couple on the floor danced whatever was in the fellow's head: tango, two-step, bossa nova, slop. 1969 N. Cohn Pop from Beginning ix. 84 There was the Hully Gully,..the Slop and..the Frug. |
7. attrib. and
Comb., as (senses 1 c and 4)
slop-barrel,
slop-bowl,
slop-bucket,
slop-can,
slop-dirt,
slop-pail,
slop-tank,
slop-tub, etc.; (sense 3)
slop-diet,
slop-fed adj.; (sense 5)
slop-clay; also
slop-moulding (see
quots.);
slop-stone dial., a stone slab used as a surface for washing;
slop-wash (see
quot.).
| 1831 J. M. Peck Guide for Emigrants 172 With..a dairy and *slop barrel..pork may be raised from the sow. 1856 Kane Arctic Expl. II. vii. 84 Emptying..some twelve to fifteen bucketfuls from the slop-barrel. |
| 1810 Columbian Centinel 25 Aug. 4/2 For sale at Davis & Brown's Silver Ware and Jewellry Store..Sugar Basons,..*Slop-Bowls. 1861 Trollope Orley F. (1862) I. xi. 85 A small pile of buttered toast on the slop-bowl, kept warm by hot water below. 1884 Harper's Mag. Jan. 233/2 Sugar-bowl,..and slop-bowl. |
| 1856 Kane Arctic Expl. II. vii. 83, I am thankful that I am here, able to empty a *slop-bucket. |
| 1926 Scribner's Mag. Aug. 204/1 A strange black dog..supporting himself by raiding the *slop-cans of Nigger Town. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Lab. II. 268/2 The expense of *slop-cartage. |
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operatic Mechanic 459 When the proper proportions of *slop clay and flint have been well blunged together, the liquid is pumped out of the reservoir on the top of the slip-kiln. |
| 1829 Cooper Good's Study Med. II. 58 Pale thin men, relaxed by sedentary habits and a spare *slop diet. 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 399 In severer febrile attacks a slop-diet is advisable. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Lab. (1864) II. 210/1 When in combination with a greater quantity of water, so that it is rendered almost liquid, it is known as ‘*slop-dirt’. |
| 1871 G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. i. ii. 56 *Slop-fed unhealthy cows. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Slop⁓hopper, the basin of a water-closet or sink. 1884 Cent. Mag. Dec. 261/2 The slop-hopper is generally a receptacle for rags and rubbish. |
| 1855 Motley Corr. (1889) I. vi. 178 Celestial *slop-jars, heaps of clean towels, etc. |
| 1843 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. VI. 348/1 ‘*Slop-moulding,’ in which process the mould is dipped into water previous to its receiving the clay. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2215 Slop-molding..requires several molds; pallet-molding only one. |
| 1854 B. P. Shillaber Life & Sayings Mrs. Partington 212 My boy knows very well how to manage it when the *slop-pail is within reach. 1860 F. Nightingale Notes on Nursing 14 A slop-pail should never be brought into a sick room. 1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xvi. v. (1872) VI. 172 Of Hanbury's News-Letters from Foreign Courts, four or five..are like the contents of a slop-pail. |
| 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 60/2 Tip-up Lavatory, Urinal, or *Slop-sink combined. |
| 1882 Nodal & Milner Gloss. Lancs. Dial. 245 *Slopstone, a place for washing. 1911 A. Bennett Card viii. 197 A gas range and a marble slopstone with two taps. 1978 Lancashire Life Oct. 83/2 Ah want thad slop-stooan scrubbin'. |
| 1968 New Scientist 25 Jan. 196/2 One of the ship's tanks is selected to serve as a *slop tank... The tanks to be cleaned are washed in turn and washings are pumped continuously into the top of the slop tank. 1979 F. Forsyth Devil's Alternative ix. 223 She had sixty giant tanks, or holds... One of these was the slop tank, to be used for..gathering the slops from her fifty crude-carrying cargo tanks. |
| 1867 ‘Mark Twain’ Celebrated Jumping Frog 169 You will proceed toward the window and sit down in that *slop-tub. |
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia 307 *Slop-wash, an occasional and hasty washing of small linen. |
▪ III. slop, n.3 E. Angl. dial. (
slɒp)
[Of obscure origin.] Growing underwood.
| 1784 Cullum Hist. Hawsted 173 Slop, the underwood in a wood. a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose, Slop, under-wood when growing. Norf. and Suffolk. 1804 Survey Gestingthorpe (Essex) 6 (E.D.D.), The slop of the respective occupiers pay tithe per acre when cut in the said grounds. 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 90 Four acres of low slop, brambles, shoots, and blackthorns. |
▪ IV. slop, n.4 slang. (
slɒp)
[Modification of ecilop, back-slang for police.] A policeman.
| 1859 in Slang Dict. 95. 1868 Morning Star 4 June, I saw the b― slops by the public-house. 1879 F. W. Robinson Coward Conscience ii. xxi, You'd better cut—the slops are after you. |
▪ V. slop, v.1 (
slɒp)
[f. slop n.1] trans. To provide with slops or cheap ready-made clothing.
| 1803 Naval Chron. X. 257 After being furnished and slopped with new cloaths, previous to their being sent on board. |
▪ VI. slop, v.2 (
slɒp)
Also 6, 8 (9
dial.)
slap.
[f. slop n.2] 1. a. trans. To spill or splash (liquid); to dash or lay
on carelessly. Also with
over.
| 1557 Tusser 100 Points Husb. (1878) 229 Their milke slapt in corners, their creame al to sost. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 61 As hogs are apt to slop over and spill a part of their food. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., If you don't mind you'll slop half your beer out of the mug. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn III. 21 Now and then she would slop tons of water on her deck. 1894 Brit. Jrnl. Photog. XLI. 8 It must only be just moistened, not slopped on. |
b. To wash or tumble (one) out of some place.
| 1839 Hood Storm at Hastings xxiii, Mrs. Snell Was slopp'd out of her seat. 1889 Jerome Three Men in Boat 18 You get fooling about with the boat, and slop me overboard. |
c. Prison slang. To empty the contents of (
esp. a chamber-pot). Usu.
absol.| 1955 [implied at slopping vbl. n. b]. 1957 Listener 28 Nov. 893/3 He watched the prisoners ‘slopping out’, working, and attending classes. 1963 T. & P. Morris Pentonville v. 104 The next two hours are given over to getting washed, shaved, breakfasted and ‘slopped out’. 1967 Guardian 2 June 6/1 Along the landing from his cell is a single recess for ‘slopping out’ chamber pots and wash-basins. 1973 Times 20 Dec. 2/3 At Brixton..they queue at communal lavatories to slop out their pots. 1978 ‘A. Garve’ Counterstroke i. xvi. 67 Prisoners rise at 6.30 a.m. Slop out. Clean their cells. |
2. To lap
up greedily or noisily; to gobble
up. Now
dial.| 1575 Gammer Gurton ii. i, Thy mylk slopt up, thy bacon filtched. 1611 J. Davies (Heref.) Scourge of Folly cvi. Wks. (Grosart) II. 20/2 Some foule-mouth'd Readers then..So slop them vp that it would make one spew. 1651 R. Child in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 88 They make Meshes for their Cows,..which the Cows will slop up like Hogs. 1746 Exmoor Scolding 190 (E.D.S.), Nif et be Loblolly, tha wut slop et oll up. 1886 in Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. 682. |
3. a. To slobber (one).
rare—1.
| 1696 T. Southerne Oroonoko ii. i, Such fine folk are not used to be slopt and kiss'd. |
b. To make wet with spilled liquid.
| 1721 Bailey, Slop,..to dash with Water. 1736 Ainsworth, To slap, or slop a place with wet, madefacio. 1806 Beresford Miseries Hum. Life vi. xv, A large round deal table, well slopped with beer. 1841 Hartshorne Salop. Ant. Gloss., Slop,..to wet or dirty. |
4. a. intr. To prepare or drink any weak liquid.
| 1742 Fielding J. Andrews i. xiii, She had just done drinking it [sc. tea], and could not be slopping all day. 1771 [see slopping vbl. n.]. |
b. With
up: to become intoxicated.
U.S. slang.| 1899 [implied at slopping-up s.v. slopping vbl. n. b]. 1916 ‘W. Scott’ Seventeen Years in Underworld xi. 64 The illgotten gains are spent ‘slopping up’ (getting drunk). 1919 Bookman (N.Y.) Apr. 208/2 Discuss the effect of the Prohibition Amendment on a white liner. What would be his chances after its passage of procuring sufficient powders to enable him to get slopped up (a) in the State of Maine, (b) in New York City? 1926 J. Black You can't Win ix. 108 No use takin' a bunch of thirsty bums along and stealin' money for them to slop up in some saloon the next day. |
5. a. To walk or travel
through a place in mud or slush. Also with
along or
on. Also
fig.| 1834 Beckford Italy I. 7 Anybody might slop through the Low Countries that pleased. 1851 Newland The Erne 187, I really have no fancy to go slopping through the wet grass and muddy roads for nothing. 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abr. ii. 51 Hour after hour we slopped along by the roaring torrent. |
b. colloq. With
about,
around, etc.: to wander aimlessly, to move in a slovenly manner; to mess
about.
| 1907 W. De Morgan Alice-for-Short xlv. 471 Old pictures do slop about the world in a vague way, till some aesthomenous person detects quality in them. 1922 M. Arlen ‘Piracy’ iii. xi. 236 When I said that you were too fine and I was too old to slop about Europe in a hole-and-corner way, I meant that this disorderly kind of life is unworthy of you. 1958 X. Fielding Corsair Country i. 22 So many of them slop about in cast-off men's shoes several sizes too big. 1973 Times 28 Nov. 13/6 Jimmy always says I mustn't slop about while I'm learning a piece, and I think that's good advice. 1982 TV Times Mag. 9–15 Oct. 47/1 At home..there's nothing she likes better than to ‘slop around in anything that's comfy to wear’. |
6. a. To run or flow
over; to flow or dash
up.
| 1853 N. Hawthorne Tanglewood. T. (Chandos) 193 The king's hand trembled so much that a great deal of the wine slopped over. 1883 Harper's Mag. Feb. 393/1 A fine wash..slopping up into the..summer-houses overhanging the river. |
b. fig. With
over. To run to excess.
U.S.| 1859 ‘Artemus Ward’ Wks. (1865) 124 Washington..never slopt over! The prevailin weakness of most public men is to slop over. 1896 Daily News 17 Nov. 5/2 The ‘Herald’ has ‘slopped over’ this time, but it will steady itself as soon as it gets the facts. |
c. To pass
over suddenly.
| 1900 G. Swift Somerley 30 Boys ‘slop over’ from the good into the bad..in such illogical ways, that there is no setting them down under definite heads. |
7. U.S. dial. and
colloq. To feed (pigs or cattle) with slops.
| 1848 D. Drake Pioneer Life in Kentucky (1870) 92 To slop the cows..was another [labour]. 1920 C. Russell Story of Nonpartisan League 63 An angry representative told them to ‘go home and slop the hogs’. 1947 Time 27 Jan. 21/2 Did you ever slop a hawg? 1966 R. G. Toepfer Witness iii. 19 First off, he'd better feed the chickens and slop the pigs. 1976 New Yorker 17 May 34/1 Your hosts..will be up at dawn to slop their pig. |
8. The
vbl. stem in comb., as
slop-over U.S., an act or instance of slopping over; also
fig.| 1908 Z. Gale Friendship Village 275, I see 'em all sprinkled along comin' from the funeral—neighbours an' friends an' just folks—an' most of 'em livin' in Friendship peaceful an'—barrin' slopovers—doin' the level best they could. 1952 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 5 Jan. 17/4 The ordinary foams used in fire-fighting do the rest of the job. The job is easy because there is no slop-over, frothing or expansion of the hot oil layer. 1977 Time 9 May 26/2 My motive in everything I was saying or certainly thinking at the time was not to try to cover up a criminal action but—to be sure that as far as any slip-over—or should I say slop-over, I think, would be a better word—any slop-over in a way that would damage innocent people. |
▪ VII. slop obs. var. slap n.2 and v.
2 Sc.▪ VIII. slop obs. or
dial. form of
slope a.
and v.
1