Inflected walloped, walloping. Forms: 4–5 walop(e, 5 walloppe, 5–6 walap, wallope, 5–7 walopp(e, 9 wallup, whallup, wollup, 6– wallop [a. ONF. *waloper = F. galoper (see GALLOP v.1). The existence of this form is evidenced in addition to the English forms by OF. walos sb. pl. and the adopted form Flem. walop(pe, MHG. walop, -ap sb. MHG. walopiren vb., and probably by mod. Walloon (Sigart) waloper to rinse linen in water. Cf. Norw. (Aasen) val(l)hoppa vb., app. an etymologizing alteration, after Norw. hoppa to leap, dance.
A satisfactory origin for this word in French has not been suggested. It is probably purely echoic, or an echoic alteration of some Teut. element or elements. The Provençal form galaupar has suggested Teut. *ga-hlaupan (OE. ʓehléapan, f. ʓe- Y- prefix + hléapan to LEAP), but the evidence for original w- precludes the comparison of the initial element.
In English the onomatopæic suggestion of the word has lent itself to varied extension of meanings and to a vague (usually colloq. and humorous) application to violent noisy movements, more especially since the form GALLOP ousted it from the more elevated uses (in the course of the 16th c.).
The sense ‘to boil rapidly’ is probably derived directly by transference from sense 1 (cf. GALLOP v.2 to boil) in spite of the close resemblance of the word to WALL v.1 + UP (cf. well up, and Du. opwallen). The relation of POTWALLOPER to POTWALLER indicates that some such association was active.
The sense ‘to beat’ may be ultimately due to the causative use (sense 2, and cf. F. galoper trans.), or may be entirely due to onomatopœic extension.]
† 1. intr. To gallop. Obs.
a. of horses.
a. 1400. [see WALLOPING ppl. a.].
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 3642. Al this folk of mych price in feire armes, and helmes shene,… withe feire stedes walopand.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 514/2. Waloppon, as horse, volopto.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xiv. 346. Cam there kyng charlemagn, as fast as his horse myghte walop.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. x. 23 (1710). He [the courser] sprentis furth, and ful proude waloppis he, Hie strekand vp his hede with mony ane ne.
1570. Levins, Manip., 169/34. To gallop, fundere gradus, to Wallop, idem, cursitare.
b. of a rider.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, II. 440. To this word thai assentyt all, And fra thaim walopyt owyr mar.
c. 1420. Wyntoun, Cron., IV. 234 (Cott.). Þe cursoure he straik wiþe þe spuris, And walapande our floyis and furis Al befor þe ost he rade.
c. 1440. Generydes, 3325. He founde anon The kyng of kynggez vppe and down rideng, And he anon to hym com waloping.
c. 1500. Melusine, xxi. 130. And thenne the Knight broched hys hors, and waloped toward hys felawes.
1529. Lyndesay, Compl., 179. And sum, to schaw thare courtlie corsis, Wald ryid to leith, and ryn thare horssis, And wychtlie wallope ouer the sandis.
1721. Ramsay, Up in Air, i. And witches wallop o’er to France, Up in the air On my bony grey mare.
† 2. trans. To let gallop, put to the gallop. Obs. rare. (Cf. GALLOP v.1 3.)
c. 1489. Caxton, Blanchardyn, xi. 42. Blanchardyn wyth a glad chere waloped his courser as bruyauntly as he coude. Ibid. (1490), Eneydos, lxi. 161. A knyghte … came ayenste hym as faste as he myghte spore and waloppe his horse.
II. 3. intr. To boil violently and with a noisy bubbling. Also fig.
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 191/2. Oure affections boyle within vs, & wallop, frothing as a seething potte.
1617. J. Moore, Mappe Mans Mortalitie, I. iii. 25. This corruption … sendeth out the filthy scum of all vncleannesse, which continually broyleth and walloppeth in our nature.
a. 1649. S. Crooke, Div. Charact., I. xxxiii. (1658), 499. There is little to choose between a boyling pot unscummed, and the pot that, for want of heate, hath no scumme raised … that wallops as the Sea about Leviathan; and this, paves it with stone.
1716. M. Davies, Athen. Brit., III. 24. We do not measure Milk when it Wallops and Seeths, but when it is Cold.
1793. Joel Barlow, Hasty-Pudding, I. (1847), 4.
| The yellow flour, bestrew’d and stir’d with haste, | |
| Swells in the flood and thickens to a paste, | |
| Then puffs and wallops, rises to the brim, | |
| Drinks the dry knobs that on the surface swim. |
[1845: see WALLOPING ppl. a. 1].
1863. Hawthorne, Our Old Home, II. 233. We beheld an immense pot over the fire, surging and walloping with some kind of a savory stew.
III. 4. a. To make violent, heavy movements (accompanied by noise); to move clumsily or convulsively; to flounder, plunge. colloq. and dial.
1715. Ramsay, Christ’s Kirk Gr., II. x. The lasses babb’d about the reel, Gar’d a’ their hurdies wallop.
1820. Scott, Abbot, xiv. The dragon walloped and hissed, and the hobby-horse neighed.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Wallop, (1) To move as fast as possible, but not without much effort and agitation…. The gallop of a cow or a cart-horse is a good specimen of wallopping.
1840. Thackeray, Barber Cox, March. Trumpeter gone clean from under me, and walloping and floundering in the ditch underneath.
1846. Landor, Pentam., iii. Wks. 1853, II. 334/2. They should not waddle and wallop in every hollow lane, nor loll out their watery tongues at every wash-pool in the parish.
c. 1854. Ferrier, Lett., in E. S. Haldane, Life (1899), 82. I take it that I have caught you in my net, and that wallop about as you will I shall land you at last.
1889. W. C. Russell, Marooned, xxxii. All was now bustle; the negroes walloped about, tumbling into the boat, bawling out like school-boys at play.
1897. Outing, XXIX. 544/1. In a moment he [a pup] caught sight of his mother and walloped over to her.
1906. Helen Mathers, Tally Ho! I. i. Sir George Freeling came walloping up on his big iron-grey horse.
1916. Ethel Colquhoun Jollie, in Blackw. Mag., Nov., 650/1. The puppy … wallops clumsily round trying to get a bit out of every one else’s share.
b. Of the heart, the blood: To pulsate (violently). Sc. Cf. WALLOP sb. 4 b.
1766. A. Nicol, Poems, 21 (E.D.D.). My heart will … wallop.
1807. Tannahill, Soldier’s Return, I. i. Odsaffs! my heart did never wallop cadger, Than when the Laird took Harry for a sodger.
1813. Picken, Poems, I. 97 (E.D.D.). Whan the tide o’ youthfu’ bluid Thro’ a’ yer heartstrings wallops.
5. To dangle, flap, ‘flop about,’ wobble. colloq. and dial. (esp. Sc.).
1822. Hogg, Siege Roxb., xiii. Tales & Sk. VI. 238. Saluting the far loin of his mare … with an energy that made all his accoutrements wallop.
1843. [G. P. R. James], Commissioner: or De Lunatico Inq., 218. His fat sides shook and walloped.
1887. P. M’Neill, Blawearie, 15. Wee Connie Rogan, the ingenuity of whose parents it altogether surpasses to know how to keep his nether garments from walloping behind him.
1890. ‘H. Haliburton,’ In Scottish Fields, 32. His West-of-England frock-coat so rent … that the loose half walloped in the dust or mud all the way behind him.
b. Phr. To wallop in a tow (or tether): to be hanged. Sc.
1785. Burns, To W. Simpson, xvii. Now let us lay our heads thegither, In love fraternal; May Envy wallop in a tether, Black fiend, infernal. Ibid. (1792), Weary Pund o’ Tow, iv. And ’or I wad anither jad, I’ll wallop in a tow.
a. 1835. W. Robertson, in W. Walker, Bards of Bon-Accord (1887), 607. I’d rather wallup in a tether Than lightly thee.
IV. 6. trans. colloq. To beat soundly, belabor, thrash; also occas. used as humorously for BEAT v. in fig. senses, e.g., to get the better of, surpass.
1825. Jennings, Observ. Dial. W. Eng., To Wallup, to beat.
1837. Lover, Rory O’More, I. ii. 46. ‘Then what does he [the priest] want the heavy stick for?’ ‘For wallopin’ his flock, to be sure,’ said Rory.
1865. Meredith, Rhoda Fleming, xxiv. Walloping men is poor work, if you come to compare it with walloping Nature.
1882. Besant, All Sorts, xxx. He’s always up to tricks; and if you wallop him, likely as not, next night, he’ll take and spoil your best trick out of revenge.
1916. E. Phillpotts, Faith Tresilion, xiii. If I’ve got to go about walloping the fear of God into everybody who offered for Faith, I shall be busier than I want to be.
