Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

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.