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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

TAPPIN, n., v. Also tapping, -en, -an, taupin, tawpen; toppin, -een (s.Sc.). Dim. tappennie. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. topping. See P.L.D. § 54. [′tɑpɪn]

I. n. 1. As in Eng.; the top or summit. Comb. tappin-lift, a topping-lift, a halyard to set the peak of a main sail (Ayr. 1930; Sh. 1972), used jocularly in 1824 quot. of the peak of an umbrella.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 263:
A gurl came, when all sail was set, and away went the tappin lift, down came the pikes clashing about his lugs.Gall. 1898 A. J. Armstrong Levellers 77:
It's only puttin' insult on the taupin o' injury for you to speak sic like ways.

2. A tuft or crest of feathers on the head of a bird (Dmf. 1825 Jam.; Uls. 1953 Traynor; Ayr., Wgt. 1972). Also fig. Hence tappennie, a tufted hen (Uls. 1929), a call to such a hen; tappint, -ed, ppl.adj., tufted, crested, of a fowl (s.Sc. 1808 Jam.; Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 51).Dmf. 1808 J. Mayne Siller Gun 16:
And ev'n the thowless cock their tappin, And craw fu' croose!Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 286:
She set a couple of them beneath a braw tappend hen.Sc. 1830 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) II. 337:
The comb upon the tappin o' chanticleer.Gall. 1830 Blackwood's Mag. (May) 163:
The cry of the Galloway dames to their stray hens ‘Chuckie, chuckie, tappennie.'Uls. 1844 R. Huddleston Poems 65:
Peg tae sell her tawpen'd cock.Wgt. 1878 “Saxon” Gall. Gossip 182:
The pride o' his heart was a white tappent hen.

3. The peaked top of a hill; a cairn on the top of a hill (Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 41; Ayr. 1972).Dmf. 1913 A. Anderson Later Poems 267:
What though they talk o' ither hills That lift their tappans to the sky.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 20:
The toppeen o Ruberslaw an the brows o the Mentih Hills.Gall. 1928 Gallov. Annual 45:
When frae the Lotus tappin' cam' glowerin' ower the mune.

4. The head or crown of the head. Also in Eng. dial. and fig. = 3. in 1814 quot.Kcb. 1814 W. Nicholson Tales 240:
A blue-mist bonnet covers his tappin'.Dmf. 1863 R. Quinn Heather Lintie 253:
Forbid that thy infernal crown Sud e'er grace Bauldy's tappen.

5. A crest or top-knot of hair (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., toppin; Uls. 1929), e.g. of a hair style adopted by men in the first half of the 19th c., in which the hair was combed up to form a crest or ridge on the top of the head.Rxb. c.1800 Mem. S. Sibbald (Hett 1926) 128:
A' we cou'd see of him was his bit tappin wagging to an' fro' like a birdie's tail.Sc. 1824 Scots Mag. (May) 541:
I thought the Judge wad ha'e ta'en the Doctor by the tappin.

6. The woollen knot or pompon on the crown of a bonnet (wm.Sc. 1808 Jam.). Hence tappinless, without a tappin.Lnk. 1808 J. Black Falls of Clyde 108:
It [a man's bonnet]'s buned here amang the sweens, sae clean, That nought o't but the tappin's to be seen.Peb. 1817 R. D. C. Brown Comic Poems 154:
His bonnet dun has tappin either nane, Or sae concealed, for tappinless it's taen.Dmf. 1830 W. Bennet Traits Sc. Life II. 212:
Blue bonnets with red tappens.