ppl. a. Also 7 cooped.
† 1. Cut, slashed: see COUP v.2 1. Obs.
2. Her. Said of the head or any member of an animal, or a part of a plant, represented as cut off ‘clean’ or smoothly (opp. to erased, slipped); also of an ordinary (e.g., a cross) having the extremities cut off so as not to extend to the boundaries of the shield.
1679. Plot, Staffordsh. (1686), 297. Three childrens heads couped at the shoulders.
1705. Hearne, Collect., 24 Nov. An Asses Head couped.
1864. Boutell, Heraldry Hist. & Pop., xvii. (ed. 3), 274. A dexter hand, couped at the wrist.
1882. Cussans, Her., iv. 61. The Cross humetté, or couped, as its name implies, has its extremities cut off.
transf. 1678. Butler, Hud., III. III. 214. Th’ Ears, Eras’d, or Coup’d for Perjurers.
