colloq. or vulgar. [f. as prec. + -ING2.] That whops; almost always fig. that is a ‘whopper’; abnormally large or great; ‘whacking,’ ‘thumping.’
Rarely spec. (a) monstrously false; (b) of surpassing excellence, uncommonly good, first-rate. Also quasi-adv. = hugely, immensely.
a. 1625. R. G., in Stanley Papers, I. (Chetham Soc.), 50. Our Chroniclers … stowed their volumes with wapping Tales of my Lord Maiors Horse.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 98. See him in bad Weather, in his Fur-Cap and whapping large Watch-Coat.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxiii. A wapping weaver he was, and wrought my first pair o’ hose.
1836. Haliburton, Clockm., Ser. I. xvii. (1839), 61. What a wappin large place that would make.
1851. Amer. Mag., Nov., 113. A couple of ‘whopping’ pumpkin stories.
1869. Punch, 31 July, 34/1. That’s a wopping majority against us.
1881. Freeman, in Stephens, Life & Lett. (1895), II. 224. The Turk comes down with a whopping bit of oppression now and then, but leaves you alone between whiles.
