Obs. Also 8 dial. lief-coup, 9 dial. litcop. [Perh. adopted (with change of sense) from Du. lijfkoop, in MDu. also litcoop, liefcoop, a luck-penny on the conclusion of a bargain. The Du. forms are prob. affected by popular etymology; cf. G. leitkauf of the same meaning, believed to be f. leit (= Goth. leiþus) ale + kauf purchase.] An auction of household goods.
1681. Hickeringill, Char. Sham Plotter, Wks. 1716, I. 213. He changes his Oaths, as Chapmen come, or (as at a Lyth-Coop) for—who bids more?
1736. Lewis, Hist. Thanet (ed. 2), 37. Lief-coup, lieue-chepe, a Sale or Market of Goods in the place where they stand. [The form lieue-chepe appears to be merely Lewis’s way of indicating what he supposes to be the etymology of lief-coup.]
1887. Kent. Gloss., Lief-coup. Ibid., Litcop, same as Lief-coup.
