sb. Now dial. Forms: 1 cype, 3–4 (?) cupe(ü), 4 kype, 6 kepe, 8–9 kipe. [OE. cýpe wk. f., app. = LG. küpe (keupe) basket carried in the hand or on the back. LG. has also kîpe, kiepe (recorded from 15th c., also spelt kype, kypp); whence mod.G. kiepe, Du. kiepe(korf). The relationship of the forms is obscure, as is that between LG. küpe basket and kûpe tub, cask, and that of OE. cýpe to ME. cūpe: see COOP sb.1]
A basket; † spec. an osier basket used for catching fish (obs.); a basket used as a measure (dial.).
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke ix. 17. Man nam þa ʓebrotu þe þar belifon, twelf cypan fulle.
a. 1100. in Napier, O. E. Glosses, xviii. 3. Corbes, cypan.
c. 1320. Cast. Love, 1278. Twelf cupeful weoren vp i-bore.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 359. He was i-lete a doun in a cupe [v.r. kype] over þe wal. Ibid. (1398), Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxlii[i]. (MS. Bodl.), lf. 227 b/2. Wylowe … þerof beþ made diuers nedefulle þinges to household as stoles sotels panyers and kuypes.
1558. Act 1 Eliz., c. 17 § 3. No … Person … shall fish … with any manner of Net, Tramel, Kepe, Wore [etc.].
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Kipe, a Basket made of Osiers, broader at Bottom, and narrow’d by Degrees to the Top, but left open at both Ends; which is used for taking of Fish, particularly at Otmore in Oxford-shire, where this manner of Fishing is called Kiping, and going to Kipe.
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Kipe, a strong osier basket with a twisted handle on each side, of circular form, but wider at the top than the bottom. Ibid., Intr. 85. A kype is often used as a measure for potatoes, apples, etc. When filled level with the top it equals a half-strike heaped.
Hence Kipe v. intr., to catch fish with a kipe. Kiping vbl. sb.
1706. [see above].
