taupie
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Related to words in various Scandinavian languages meaning "fool". For example, Norwegian tåp, Danish taabe, and Swahili tåpig.
Noun
[edit]taupie (plural taupies)
- (Scotland and Northern England) A foolish or thoughtless young person, especially a lazy or slovenly woman.
- 1881, William Alexander, “The Settlement of Mr. Maccassock”, in Johnny Gibb of Gushetneuk[1], pages 230–231:
- "Peter! Peer man, aw doot he hisna sol't 's beets wi' 's transack amo' the lasses. But an' he war goodman o' 'Newtoon,' 's Dawvid ca's 't, an' Mary Howie needin' to gae awa' to the frem't, she maybe winna be sae saucy, aiven though an inhaudin, unedicat taupie chiel in a kwintra chop sud be garrin 'er troo that he 's wuntin' 'er—Fat sorra wud he wunt 'er for but to get 's han's o' the siller that Gushet 's len'it 'im, or I 'm sair mista'en?"
Derived terms
[edit]References
[edit]- “taupie, http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/taupie.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC: “25 January 2018”