Jump to content

dewlap

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Middle English dewlappe.[1] The first element may be dew (and if not, seems to have been altered by folk etymology to resemble it); the second element is lap (loose fabric), Old English læppa (a loose hanging piece);[2] compare jellop and jowlop (from jowl + lap), and dewclaw. Compare old Norwegian and Danish doglæp[2] (the modern Danish word for "dew" is dug,[3] but compare Old Norse dǫgg (dew) and Norwegian dogg). Old English instead terms such skin the frǣt-læppa (whence Middle English fresh-lappe).[1]

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

dewlap (plural dewlaps)

  1. The pendulous skin under the neck of an ox, or a similar feature on any other animal.
  2. The sagging flesh on the throat of an elderly human.
    • 2017, Bernard MacLaverty, “Chapter 2”, in Midwinter Break, page 36:
      He ended up looking at himself in the mirror. His image stared back at him. He was developing a dewlap - a definite dewlap. He waggled under his chin scornfully with his fingers.

Derived terms

[edit]

Translations

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. 1.0 1.1 deu-lap(pe), n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. 2.0 2.1 dewlap”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present. "1350–1400; Middle English dew(e)lappe, apparently dewe dew + lappe lap1; compare Danish dog-læp, Dutch (dial.) dauw-zwengel; literal sense is unclear"
  3. ^ This point is made by Charles Telford Carr (1939) Nominal Compounds in Germanic:Norw. and Dan. doglæp, ME. dewlappe, dewlap. The first part of this prose compound is obscure and is possibly only secondarily connected with dew as the Norw. and Dan. for dew is dug, not dog (see Falk-Torp under doglæp and OED. under dewlap).

Anagrams

[edit]
pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy