† galp, v. Obs.
(exc. as surviving in gawp dial.).
[Not found in OE.; the form agrees with OS. galpôn to boast; MDu., Du. galpen to yelp, bark, howl; Middle Ger. galpen to bark; cognate with yelp (OE. ᵹielpan str., to boast, ON. gialpa to yelp).
The Eng. sense is not found in the other Teut. langs. and the etymological identity of the word is not quite certain; the Eng. vb. may be an onomatopoeic alteration of gape.]
1. intr. To gape, yawn. Of a deer: ? to pant (or perhaps to ‘bell’: cf. sense 3).
| 13.. K. Alis. 461 (Bodl. MS.) Þe dere galpeþ [Lincoln's Inn MS. galopith] by wode syde. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 88 And thanne shullen his guttis godele and he shal galpen after. 1401 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 100 Ȝour capped maistres..galpen after grace bi symonye ȝour sister. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 46 He that galpeth, or claweth his heed, or panteth. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 709/2 The good godlye man..galpeth, and getteth hym downe of the pulpet. |
b. transf. of a chasm. Also fig. to gape after, to be eagerly desirous of something.
| 1546 Supplic. Poore Comm. (E.E.T.S.) 81 Them that galp, and loke after the crowne of this realme after your daies. 1577 Kendall Flowers & Epigr. 90 b, Thy graue, which galpes, thee to deuour. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 83 Charybdis..with broad iaws greedelye galping. |
2. trans. To vomit forth; also fig., to give up (the ghost).
| 1529 More Comf. agst. Trib. i. Wks. 1162/2 Long was it not ere they galped up the ghoste. 1558 T. Phaer æneid iii. H iv, And lompes of fleshe with wine he galpyd fourth. |
¶ 3. Of an animal: To yelp.
[One of Caxton's borrowings from Du.]
| 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 22 He mawede and galped so lowde that martynet sprang vp. Ibid. 95 She galped and cryde so lowde for the smarte that she had..that the men of the village cam out with stauys. |
Hence † ˈgalping vbl. n. and ppl. a. Also † ˈgalper, one who gapes; † galp n., the action of gaping.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 342 With a galpyng mouth hem alle he keste. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 389 Þat pestilence..ofte slow men wiþ galpynge and snesinge. ? a 1500 in Audelay's Poems (Percy Soc.) Notes 85 Jangler cum jasper, lepar, galper quoque, draggar. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde (1564) 84 b, Ouermuch galpyng and reachyng vpwardes. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. II. 28/2 With gastlie galpe of grislie bug. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 91 In belche galp vometing with dead sleape snortye the collops. |