Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Nepe, Neep(e, n.² [e.m.E. neep (1479), nepe (1584), neape (1589), OE. nép- in népflód.] Neap tide, the tide at which the high-water level is lowest. Also Nepe-tide. a. Dede (= dead) nepe. b. ? The highest point reached by the neap tide. —a. 1533 Boece iv. xii. 144 [see Dede a. 3 (3)]. — a1651 Calderwood VI. 98.
But the deid neepe was so great, according to the course of the moone and custome of that sea, that they looked not for her floatingb. 1667 Old-lore Misc. IX. iii. 142.
A conspicuous march stone … at the west neep or sea banks