Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Chiefly British A male sheep; a ram.
  • noun A heavy metal body, especially the head of a power hammer.
  • intransitive verb To copulate with (a ewe). Used of a ram.
  • intransitive verb To copulate with a ewe.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To cover or copulate with: used specifically of a ram.
  • To butt.
  • To bow to before drinking.
  • To copulate, as a ram.
  • To butt, as a ram.
  • noun A ram; the male of the sheep.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A ram.
  • verb Prov. Eng. To butt, as a ram does.
  • verb To cover; -- said of a ram.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Two pence.
  • noun A male sheep, a ram.
  • noun The head of a hammer, and particularly of a steam-driven hammer.
  • verb To mate; used of a ram mating with a ewe.
  • verb slang To have sex with, to bonk, etc.
  • verb slang To butt: said of a ram.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun uncastrated adult male sheep

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English tupe.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Short for tuppence ("two pence").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English tupe, origin unknown.

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Examples

Comments

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  • ...?!...

    April 30, 2008

  • Considerate of Weirdnet to explain that a ram is a woolly horned ruminant mammal related to the goat. However, it still won't do the goats any good come the Rapture.

    April 30, 2008

  • Well, neither will their testicles, at that point.

    How appropriate (if embarrassing) that when I see this word, I think shtup.

    April 30, 2008

  • Ah, sionnach, what an earworm you've just given me! Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day mumbling about gravediggers and forceps.

    May 1, 2008

  • Forceps and gravediggers, mutton and lambchops.

    Manscapes and pear shapes, buttons and hamhocks.

    Coming from Babylon, a Whore that sings ....

    These are a few of our favorite theengs.

    I wonder if all castrated animals will be issued neuticles come the Rapture.

    This post is brought to you by the twin forces of incoherence and confusion.

    May 1, 2008

  • Incoherence and confusion? Oh dear. We can't have any of that. Perhaps I can elucidate...

    I was under the impression, sionnach, that you were making a clever reference to the song "Sheep Go To Heaven (Goats Go To Hell)", which has an extremely catchy chorus and makes for a confoundingly strong earworm. Hence my reference to gravediggers and forceps, both of which appear in the lyrics.

    May 2, 2008

  • Finally now we return to the deep, and reaching our dim craft

    drag her black hull through safe shale down to the fathomless brine.

    Next, to the dark-bellied vessel we carry white sails and mainmast,

    lifting aboard her the sheep, white tup and black ewe...

    - Peter Reading, Ukulele Music, 1985

    June 19, 2009

  • See also settle.

    March 8, 2015

  • The weight at the end of a pendulum according to NPR's Says You!.

    January 4, 2020

  • Tup that!.....certainly makes one tuppencely pensive!?

    January 10, 2020