neap
/niːp/ noun, adjective, verb
Forms neaps neaping neaped
- noun The tongue or pole of a cart or other vehicle drawn by two animals.
- adjective (of a tide) Low; lowest; the ebb or lowest point of a tide.
- adjective Designating a tide which occurs just after the first and third quarters of the moon, when there is the least difference between high tide and low tide.
- verb (transitive) To trap (a ship) in water too shallow to move, due to the smaller tidal range occurring in a period of neap tides.
- verb (intransitive) To ooze, to sink, to subside, to tail.
- noun A neap tide.
Synonyms
Etymology
Perhaps of Scandinavian origin: compare dialectal Norwegian neip (“forked pole”).
From Middle English neep, from Old English nēp (“scant, lacking”), possibly from Proto-Germanic *nōpiz (“narrow”). Found especially in Old English nēpflōd (“neap tide”, literally “low tide”). Compare Norwegian dialectal nøpen (“scarce, scant, barely enough”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The tongue or pole of a cart or other vehicle drawn by two animals. [U.S.]
- adjective Low. Neap tides, the lowest tides of the lunar month, which occur in the second and fourth quarters of the moon; --opposed to spring tides.
- noun A neap tide.
Etymology [Cf. Neb, Nape.]
Etymology [As. nepflod neap flood; cf. hnipian to bend, incline.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “neap”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details