▪ I. nape, n.1
(neɪp)
Also 4 naape, 6 naupe, nawpe.
[Of obscure origin. The entire absence of forms with initial k makes it difficult to connect the word with the app. synonymous OFris. (hals) knap. The variants naupe, nawpe also present difficulties; it is not clear whether they have any connexion with mod. north. dial. (k)naup, (k)nope the head or top of the head, a lump or swelling, a hillock.]
1. a. The back of the neck; that part of the body in man or animals which contains the first cervical vertebræ. (Now usually as in b.)
In early examples sometimes translating L. vertex.
| 13.. K. Alis. 1347 Felip was..Dedly woundid thorugh the nape. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 211 Þe maufesours [were] ateynt, and cursed ouer þe nape. a 1400 Prymer (1891) 77 In to his naape his wickednesse schal falle down. c 1460 Russell Bk. Nurture 455 Furst Kit owte þe nape in þe nek þe shuldurs before. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 66, I twisted a wallet On my broad shoulders, my nape dyd I settle eke vnder. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 256 Every morning rub hard the hinder part of the Head and Nape. 1762 Hoole tr. Tasso xi. 317 In his right eye the fatal arrow drove,..And issu'd at his nape. 1808 Med. Jrnl. XIX. 446 These emunctories are put on the nape or occipital region. 1851 C. L. Smith tr. Tasso iii. xliv, On the nape and back he struck them dead. |
| attrib. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 200 Apparatus used in the preparation of boneless fish, including mitre boxes, knives,..nape-hooks. 1888 O. Thomas Catal. Marsup. 7 Nape-hairs directed backwards. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 256 Stooping her fair pinnacles of hair, stooping, her tortoise napecomb showed. |
b. Esp. in phr. the nape of the neck († or head).
| α [c 1440 Promp. Parv. 351/1 Nape of an hedde, occiput, cervix, vertex.] 1530 Palsgr. 247/1 Nape of the necke, fossette de la teste. 1540 Morysine tr. Vives' Introd. Wisd. C vij, Kepe the nape of thy necke from colde. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 119 It helpeth al the infirmities incident to the nape of the neck. 1649 Bulwer Pathomyot. ii. i. 44 If we put the index of our Hand about the pit of the hinder part of the head, or nape of the neck. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 447 As one catches up a dog by the nape of his neck. 1839 Thirlwall Greece lii. VI. 287 A..stone which fell on the nape of his neck. 1872 Baker Nile Trib. xiii. 230 The harpoon was sticking in the nape of the neck. |
| β 1530 Palsgr. 247/2 Naupe of the heed, canneau de col, la fossette de la teste. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. N iij b, They are applyed in the nawpe of the necke, and kepeth the place of the cephalyke bledynge. |
2. a. The fleshy part left projecting from the end of a fish's back after the head is removed. ? Obs.
| 1482 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 222/1 That the napes of the seid barelled fissh, shuld be no longer than the litell bone that sitteth upon the grete fyne. |
b. The part of a fish next the head. rare.
| 1656 Sir J. Mennes & Smith Musarum Deliciæ (ed. 2) 86 Then to a Nape of Ling he would invite Some Rascall Tapster. 1884 G. B. Goode Fisheries U.S.: Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 201 George's fish are very fat fish with white ‘napes’. |
▪ II. † nape, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
[a. OF. nape, var. of nappe:—L. mappa: see napkin.]
A table-cloth.
| c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 656 in Babees Bk. 199 Þo ouer nape schalle dowbulle be layde. |
▪ III. † nape, n.3 Obs. rare.
[ad. L. nāpus: cf. neep.]
The name suggested by Turner, and used by some later writers, for the yellow turnip.
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. (1568) 61 Napus is named in Greke βουνιας... It may be called a Nape or a yelow rape vntill we fynde out the olde Englishe name for it. 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme ii. xxxii. 240 Napes and nauets..are two diuers sorts..: the napes are greater and drawing toward a yellow colour..: nauets are lesse, white, and a great deale more sauorie. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 308 There are three differences of Napes or Rapes. |
▪ IV. nape, n.4 dial.
[perh. for knape: see knap n.1 1, quot. 1538.]
(See quot.)
| 1837 J. F. Palmer Dialogue Devonsh. Dial. Gloss., Where a rising ground falls off on either side, so as to form an ascending ridge, that ridge is called the nape. |
▪ V. nape
obs. variant of neap dial.
▪ VI. † nape, v.1 Obs.
Also 5 inf. napyn, 6 nawpe.
[f. nape n.1 It is not clear whether the north. dial. (k)naup, (k)nope, to strike on the head, has any connexion with Palsgrave's nawpe.]
1. trans. To strike (a person) on the back of the neck. Also transf.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 351/2 Napyn, or slen be the nape, occipito. 1530 Palsgr. 643/2, I nawpe one in the necke, I stryke one in the necke, je accollette and je frappe au col. 1549 Latimer 3rd Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 76 He was taken and naped in ye head wyth the title of an heretique. |
2. ? To cut (a fish) through the nape.
| c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 102 Take a troute, and nape him. Ibid. 105 Take a tenche, and nape him. 1482 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 222/2 Every Barell of fissh, which herafter shall be founde..medelled, naped, leyd double, or not boned nor splatted, accordyng to this Acte. |
Hence † ˈnaping vbl. n. Obs.
| 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 23 That every suche Gauger Packer and Sercher take no more for..his labour for bonyng napyng and packyng of a barell fisshe..[than] jd. |
▪ VII. † nape, v.2 Obs.—1
(Precise sense obscure.)
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxx. 575 Gederand and gredy, sore napand and nedy youre godys forto spare. |