Sc. Also 4–9 lowp(e, 6 loupe, (8 loop). [a. ON. hlǫupa: see LEAP v.] intr. and trans. = LEAP v. in various senses.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XIII. 652. And it [wheel of fortune], that wondir lawch wer ere, Mon lowp on loft in the contrere.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxvi. (John Baptist), 506. Þe wikit wife gert hir dochtir ga … & spring & loupe befor þaim al.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (1858), III. 413. Sum he gart loupe and droun into the deip.
1567. Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.), 222. Quhen that I heir hir name exprest, My hart for Ioy dois loup thairfor.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 197. The bischope quha was than loupand on hors.
a. 1584. Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 463. Luik quhair to licht before thou loup.
1693. Scot. Presbyt. Eloq. (1738), 138. That like new-spean’d Fillies they may loop over the Fold-dikes of Grace.
1788. Burns, Ep. to H. Parker, 30. O, had I power like inclination, I’d … loup the ecliptic like a bar.
1826. J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. 1855, I. 175. The trouts are loupin in the water.
1871. C. Gibbon, Lack of Gold, vii. With … your purse full you’ll get dozens of them ready to loup at you.
1894. Crockett, Raiders (ed. 3), 46. Gin I haena the strength of airm to gar ye lowp mysel’.
b. Comb.: loup-the-dike a., giddy, flighty.
1823. Galt, Entail, II. 276. She jealouses that your affections are set on a loup-the-dyke Jenny Cameron like Nell Frizel.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xxiii. I have my finger and my thumb on this loup-the-dyke loon.
