dollop

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English

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WOTD – 15 July 2017

Alternative forms

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  • dallop (noun and verb) (obsolete)

Etymology

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A slice of coconut cream pie with a dollop of whipped cream on it

From earlier East Anglian dialectal dallop (“patch, tuft (of grass, etc.)”), of unknown origin. Compare dialectal Norwegian dolp (“lump”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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dollop (plural dollops)

  1. A considerable lump, scoop, or quantity of something, especially soft food. [from 1810s]
    Each pancake comes with a dollop of suspiciously soft butter in a tiny plastic cup.
    • [1826, John Thomson, “Dallop”, in Etymons of English Words, Edinburgh: Published by Oliver & Boyd, Tweeddale-Court; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, →OCLC, column 1:
      Dallop, s[ubstantive] a deal heap, a division or small heap, […]]
    • [1830, Robert Forby, The Vocabulary of East Anglia; an Attempt to Record the Vulgar Tongue of the Twin Sister Counties, Norfolk and Suffolk, as It Existed in the Last Twenty Years of the Eighteenth Century, and still Exists; with Proof of Its Antiquity from Etymology and Authority. [...] In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed by and for J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols and Son, 25, Parliament Street, →OCLC, page 88:
      DALLOP, s[ubstantive] […] 5. A clumsy and shapeless lump of any thing tumbled about in the hands.]
    • [1858?], “Felix Folio” [pseudonym; John Page], “And Last”, in The Hawkers and Street Dealers of the North of England Manufacturing Districts; [...] Being Some Account of Their Dealings, Dodgings, and Doings, 2nd edition, Manchester: Abel Heywood, 58, Oldham Street; London: T. W. Grattan, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 129:
      In Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and, indeed, wherever there is a large fruit and vegetable market, there are a number of persons who regularly attend it, for the purpose of purchasing whatever may be, at the time, very cheap—either fruits or vegetables. […] These people are known amongst the dealers and hawkers as "Dollopers," and the lots they purchase are called "Dollops;" indeed, the latter term is applied to any article that a dealer may have left, after the market is over, if there is much of it. The "Dollopers" are well known to the dealers, and they (the latter) frequently call out to them, if they see them looking about the market, and have a "dollop" of anything on hand; […]
    • [1868, J. C. Atkinson, A Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect: Explanatory, Derivative, and Critical, London: John Russell Smith, Soho Square, →OCLC, page 146:
      Dollop, sb. [substantive] 1. An awkward or clumsy-looking portion of anything, as of bread or meat. 2. A quantity or number of individuals forming a shapeless whole. […] 1. 'Weel! thee's getten a fairish dollop, thee has. It's a wem-fu' fur tweea as big as thou.' 2. 'Yon troot's biggest o' t' dollop by owght.']
    • 1907, Ian Hay [pseudonym; John Hay Beith], “The Philanthropists”, in “Pip”: A Romance of Youth, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood & Sons, →OCLC; republished Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; The Riverside Press Cambridge [Mass.], 1917, →OCLC, page 23:
      On lifting it up he was surprised by an unwonted feeling of stickiness; but when he held the instrument to the light, the reason revealed itself to him immediately in the form of a dollop of congealed chicken-broth, nicely rounded to the shape of the cup, which shot from its resting-place, with a clammy thud, on to his clean shirt-front, and then proceeded to slide rapidly down inside his dress waistcoat, leaving a snail-like track, dotted with grains of rice, behind it.
    • 2007, Lumen de Souza, “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, in Frederick Noronha, editor, Girls in Green: Memoirs from St. Mary’s, Saligão, Goa, India: Goa 1556, →ISBN, page 25:
      Although I was short and stubby, and could hardly manage a good serve or a great smash, what I lacked in height and strength I made up with dollops of enthusiasm and even managed it to the victorious throw-ball team.

Translations

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Verb

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dollop (third-person singular simple present dollops, present participle dolloping, simple past and past participle dolloped)

  1. (transitive) To apply haphazardly in generous lumps or scoops. [from 1820s]
    She dolloped a generous quantity of mustard on her hot dog.
    • 1996, Buck Ramsey, “Christmas Waltz”, in Christmas Waltz (Peregrine Smith book), Salt Lake City, Utah: Gibbs Smith, →ISBN; reprinted in “Remembrances of a Season: Sentiments on Waltzin’, Strollin’, Whittlin’, Roastin’, and Toastin’”, in Jesse Mullins, editor, American Cowboy, Sheridan, Wyo.: American Cowboy L.L.C., November–December 1996, →ISSN, page 82:
      They cobbler the plums they put up back in summer, / They bake a wild turkey and roast backstrap deer, / They dollop the sourdough for rising and baking, / And pass each to each now the brown jug of cheer.
    • 2012, Ruth Saberton, Amber Scott is Starting Over, London: Orion, →ISBN:
      She dollops porridge into a bowl and trickles condensed milk over the top.
    • 2017, Wendy Lynne Lee, Eco-nihilism: The Philosophical Geopolitics of the Climate Change Apocalypse, Lanham, Md., London: Lexington Books, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 152:
      Sketching possible strategies to meaningful carbon reduction, […] [Naomi] Klein unfortunately "drags the reader along on a syrupy tour of the entire New Age kitsch pantheon, from the 'brave' climate warriors who chain themselves to bulldozers over 'a lone Mi'kmaq mother kneeling in the middle of the highway before a line of riot police, holding up a single eagle feather' to the goat-herding yogi who 'can feel the earth breathe,' before finishing up by literally dolloping out wisdom from her womb."
  2. (transitive, intransitive) To dole out in a considerable quantity; to drip in a viscous form.
    • [1858?], “Felix Folio” [pseudonym; John Page], “And Last”, in The Hawkers and Street Dealers of the North of England Manufacturing Districts; [...] Being Some Account of Their Dealings, Dodgings, and Doings, 2nd edition, Manchester: Abel Heywood, 58, Oldham Street; London: T. W. Grattan, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 129:
      [P]eas are, when in season, the article most frequently "dolloped," especially since such large quantities have been sent to market, from distant places, by the railways, as they heat very much, and the shell decomposing, becomes a bad colour, and unfits the article for the regular market in a very short space of time. They are now "shot" into a cart, and a sack or two of green ones purchased to spread over the top of them, for the purpose of deceiving "green ones" of another description.
    • 2006, “The Guard”, in John Patrick, editor, Secret Passions: A New Collection of Erotic Tales, Herndon, Va.: STARbooks Press, →ISBN:
      The guard bounced his cock up, and the cock-snot dolloped onto the floor. Without instruction, Mark lowered his head beneath the towering statue and licked the creamy blob of lubrication up.
    • 2008, Rachel Johnson, Shire Hell, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN; republished as In a Good Place, Touchstone trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, June 2009, →ISBN, page 99:
      "It's fah-bu-lous to have these early salads, from the greenhouse, but don't they make you just long for summer?" Cath says to no one in particular as she dollops away generously onto plates.
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