Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1976 (SND Vol. X). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

WUP, v., n.¹ Also wupp; wip(p); (w)oup, (w)oop. [wʌp; Ork., ne.Sc. + wɪp]

I. v. 1. (1) To bind two objects or parts of an object together by wrapping string, tape or the like tightly round and round the joint, to splice, whip, overlay, bandage (Rxb. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry Gl., wip(p), oop, oup; Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 211, wip, wop; Sh., Ork., n.Sc., em.Sc.(a) 1974). Vbl.n. wooping, binding, splicing, whipping; ppl.adj. wippit, woupit, tied round and round (Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis). Gen.Sc. Comb. woupit purk, bacon tied round with string.Sc. 1711 R. Wodrow Analecta (M.C.) I. 362:
“The two graces that made it up, upon our part, were faith and love;” and compared these two to the gleu and wooping of a club!Sc. 1808 Jam.:
To wip the skair of a rod, to bind a division of a fishing-rod with thread frequently and tightly brought round it.Edb. 1826 M. & M. Corbett Odd Volume 177:
I'll gang an' 'oup my fishing-rod, to be ready for the niest shower.Mry. 1897 J. Mackinnon Braefoot Sk. 54:
A few days afterwards Jeckie Macwhirter asked me if I wanted any “rosit en's” to “wup” my fishing wand.Abd. 1905 W. Watson Auld Lang Syne 4:
Its timmer lum was wippit with strae-raip.Ork. 1910 Old-Lore Misc. III. iv. 205:
Aloft along the gable ran two horizontal bars of wood, eighteen inches apart, laced or “wupped” with straw simmons.Sh. 1949 J. Gray Lowrie 92:
Wan pound o' woupit purk.Abd. 1963 J. C. Milne Poems 24:
Hunners o' deid folk wuppit in caul' fite claith.Abd. 1993:
Wip a scarf roon e bairnie's heid.

(2) To wind the starting string round (a spinning-top).Ags. 1890 A. N. Simpson Muirside Memories 92:
He could advise a laddie as to how he should “wup his peerie” or “mak a totum.”

2. tr. To wind (a cord, etc.) round an object in a series of tight coils (Ork., n.Sc. 1974). Vbl.n. wuppin, a coil, plait, interlacing, twining.Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb. i.:
Tak' the aul' pleuch ryn there, and wup it ticht atween the stays.Ork. 1894 W. R. Mackintosh Peat-fires 225:
Juist wip the tether tae's neck and bid 'im geng hame.Sc. 1909 Colville 33:
The crown of thorns . . . is a wuppin o' thorns.Sh. 1928 Shetland Times (14 July):
A muckel irn aboot a lispund wecht, wi a bit o swara woupid aboot him an a lang handel.Ags. 1948 Forfar Dispatch (5 Aug.):
She'd a weet clout wippit roond her pow.Bnff. 1959 Banffshire Advert. (12 Feb.):
We'll wip yer scarf roon yer neck an' hing ye til the kirk ower there.

3. To tie, join by tying, to secure or fasten, esp. with loops of cord, to lash (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Ork. 1974). Also fig.Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. iv.:
A hank [of yarn], thrice broken, and thrice to oop.Bnff. 1872 W. Philip It 'ill a' Come Richt 177:
It's only fan we're wuppit to Christ that we sall float ower the jas o' the Jordan.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 128:
Wippan' her booto tae the sae-tree, Sheu rakid hid ap the lum.Sh. 1886 J. Burgess Sketches 111:
We wan ta da kirk, an' got da pair wippit tageddar as ticht as dey cud geng, wi' da holy tows o' matrimony.Sh. 1899 J. Spence Folk-Lore 128:
The hooks of wrought iron were wupped to bidds about four feet long.Abd. 1993 Sheena Blackhall in Joy Hendry Chapman 74-5 138:
Reid kerchief lichtly wippit neth his chin
A mou wad sook the hinney frae a bee

4. intr. To coil, wind itself round, become entangled or involved (Ork., ne.Sc., Ags. 1974). Ppl.adj. wuppit, tangled, inter-twisted.Sc. 1926 H. M'Diarmid Drunk Man 83:
Roots to wile the clay And wuppit brainches syne To claught them 'midyards tae.Sc. 1935 W. Soutar Poems in Sc. 32:
Upstüde The Eildon tree: about its wud Was wuppit a twa-heided snake.Sh. 1949 J. Gray Lowrie 14:
Som o' da neep peelins woupid aroond da axel.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 12:
Anither chukken, lichter in hue, an a pucklie oors younger than the first, sae he cud still myne wi gratitude the cosy yoam that wippit roun him afore birth, argyed - :"Bit we did hae a mither. It's yon kinno boxie thing, ..."

II. n. 1. A splice, a tying or binding with coils of string or the like (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 211; ne.Sc. 1974); a coil, loop (I.Sc., Cai. 1974).Bwk. 1834 Proc. Bwk. Nat. Club (1885) 223:
The hooks are suspended from the back or principal part of the line by a snood and wip fastened together.Sh. 1898 Shetland News (13 Aug.):
Shü gae da foal a tump wi' her knee i' da ribs, whin shü got da wips o' da tedder aff o' his neck.Abd. 1933 J. H. Smythe Blethers 38:
Sae wi' a final furl He cuist the hinmost wup.Sh. 1953 New Shetlander No. 35. 13:
Twa woop of a moorit gravet round his neck.

2. A strake or side-plank of a boat (Sb. 1974).Sh.⁴ 1933:
Da upper wup is rotten below da efter baand. Da boat hed six wips o larch aroond hir an' hir baands wis oak.

3. A ring, freq. an ear-ring (Abd. 1928, wup; Bnff. 1962, wip).Lth. 1700 Edb. Gazette (19 Aug.):
Some Gold Rings, Woops, and several Pieces of Gold.Kcd. 1720 Fraser Papers (S.H.S.) 164:
Three woups and a pearl necklace . . . a small diamond ring three woops and a pair of gold lockets enambled.Abd. 1749 Abd. Journal (11 July):
Two Riding Whips, The one having the Brass-wipp fixed on the Handle by two small Brass Nails.

4. A journey up, round and down, a circuit, a turning movement, as in ploughing (Ork. 1974). Adj. wuppy, loopy in motion, twisting, spirally (Id.).Ork. 1920:
There's time tae geung a wip yet afore six o' clock.Ork. 1927 H. C. Jean's Garden 43:
Sich a wuppy way o' walking wi' the wind winding me ulster roon' me legs.