Now only dial. Forms: α. 5 stolpe, 5–9 stulp(e, 6 stoulpe. β. 5–7 stowpe, 6 stuipe, stouppe, stowppe, 6–8 stoope, 6–9 stoup(e, 7–9 stope, stowp, (7 stoppe), 7– stoop. [Late ME. stulpe, stolpe, a. ON. stolpe (Icel. stólpi, Sw., Da. stolpe); prob. cogn. w. Russian столбъ post, pillar.
It is doubtful whether the word has any connection with MLG. and early mod.Du. stolpe, stulpe lid (according to Kilian also beam, rafter), mod.Du. stolp, stulp, mod.G. stulpe (from LG.).
The β forms may possibly partly represent a distinct but synonymous word, a. or cogn. w. OFris. stûpa, MLG., MDu. stûpe whipping-post, stake, punishment of flogging, MHG. stûpe (from MLG.; mod.G. staupe) flogging.]
1. A post, pillar.
α. 1439. Rec. Carpenters’ Co. (1914), II. 4. Paide for ij Stulpes and ye settinge up.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 481/1. Stulpe, or stake, paxillus.
c. 1450. Brut, 462. Whan the Kyng had riden thurgh Suthwerk, and come to the stulpes without London Brigge.
1490–1. Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 167. Item, to Byrd, carpenter, for stolpes & Reylles, viij s. iij d. Ibid., 168. Paide to paris ffor settyng of stulpis and ledgis & nayllis … v d.
1494. in Househ. Ord. (1790), 127. The cradle to have five stolpes, three at the head, and twoe at the feet, and the King’s armes on the middle stolpe.
1530. Palsgr., 277/1. Stoulpe before a doore, souche.
1555. Phaër, Æneid, II. (1558), E j b. The walles with skalyng ladders layde, & stulps of scaffolds hie, And vp by stayres thei clyme.
1579. Abstr. Dewsbury Court Roll, in Yorks. Archæol. Jrnl., XXI. 410. Roger Hirste shall make a newe gate and new stulpes.
1736. Ainsworth, Lat.-Eng. Dict., Art. T, Save that the transverse plank lay not quite on the top of the erect stulp, but across it a little lower.
β. 1463. in Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees), 134. For a newe stowpe to ye grate yates, 10 d.
1552. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., X. 112. Item, to ane turnour turnand stoupis of beddis and charis in the said castell … iij li. iiij s.
1600. in Hore, Hist. Newmarket (1885), I. 95. Whereas Hugh Wyrrall, gentleman, had caused a stoope to be sett on Doncaster More at the west end of the horse race.
1682. W. Blundell, Cavalier’s Note Book (1880), 267. The stoop, commonly called the chair, where the horse course on Crosby Marsh doth usually begin and end.
1685. Cotton, trans. Montaigne (1711), I. xxxviii. 335. Stoops dive deeper and deeper into the earth by being moved up and down.
1709. in Slingsby’s Diary (1836), 193. Upon her Lady-ships promise that the said Gate, & Stoups, & all things belonging to it should be hung.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, in Coltness Collect. (Maitl. Club), 226. A chair, with one carved bar close to the bottom behind, eight other turned bars, the stoops and four cross bars in the back, a rush bottom.
1770. E. Heslerton Inclos. Act, 6. Guarded with substantial stoops and rails.
1823. Willson, Gloss. Gothic Archit. (ed. 2), 21. Stoup, a post. A pedestal, or small pillar, for a statue to stand upon.
1829. Glover, Hist. Derby, I. 190. Substantial stone stoops or posts for gates are in general use.
in fig. context. 1637. Rutherford, Lett. (1664), 254. Our Salvation is fastened with God’s own hand and with Christ’s own strength to the strong stoup of God’s unchangeable nature. Mal. 3. 6.
2. fig. A person or thing that supports or sustains; a ‘prop,’ ‘pillar.’ Sc.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., IV. Wks. 1848, II. 411. Ledingtoune and the Maister of Maxwell were that nycht the two stoupeis of hir chair.
1640. R. Baillie, Lett. & Jrnls. (Bannatyne Club), I. 282. Since he heard of Ratcliffe prisoned, and Wentford’s death, his two stoups, his heart is a little fallen.
1721. Ramsay, To Earl Dalhousie, 2. Dalhousie of an auld descent, My chief, my stoup, and ornament.
1821. Galt, Ann. Parish, xxvi. (1895), 167. All [invited] in addition to our old stoops from the neighbouring parishes.
1863. R. Paul, in B. Bell, Mem. (1872), 266. He is … a great stoop to the Free Church.
1896. Barrie, Marg. Ogilvy, ii. (1897), 26. He was a great ‘stoop’ of the Auld Licht kirk.
† 3. Cant. The pillory. Obs.
1795. Potter, Dict. Cant (ed. 2).
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict.
4. Mining. (See quot. 1881.) Stoop-and-room = pillar-and-stall: see PILLAR sb. 7.
1881. J. Sands, Sketches of Tranent, 30. ‘Stoops,’ or massive pillars of coal, were left to support the roof.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Stoop-and-Rooms.
1888. B. H. Brough, Mine-Surv., 7. The ‘post and stall’ system,… known … in Scotland as ‘stoup and room,’ and the ‘long-wall’ system.
1890. Wallace, Alston Moor, 141 (E.D.D.). From these levels short cross-cuts were made … into the vein, and its contents mined by stoups.
1899. N. B. Daily Mail, 21 June, 5. The adjoining ‘stoop’ was finished last Wednesday. That was about half a mile from the pit bottom.
5. attrib. as † stoop bedstead; (sense 4) stoop-road, -side; stoop-net, a fishing-net supported on a pole.
1593. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees, 1860), 228. In the south turret. One *stoupe bedstead, teaster, valens and curtaines.
1806. Morison, Decis., XXXIII. 14271. The *stoop-net is quite a different kind of net from the pock-net, being a much larger net, with the mouth of it fastened to three pieces of wood, fixed in the form of a triangle. To this triangle is fixed a large pole, by which a person in a boat holds it while he is fishing.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 243. *Stoop roads, roads driven in the solid or whole coal on the stoop and room system.
1887. P. M’Neill, Blawearie, 33. Hanging his lighted lamp on the *stoopside.
