[OE. yfesdrype, f. EAVES + DRIP, afterwards refashioned after DROP; cf. ON. upsar-dropi of same meaning; the Flem. oosdrup, according to Kilian, meant simply ‘eaves.’] The dripping of water from the eaves of a house; the space of ground that is liable to receive the rain-water thrown off by the eaves of a building.
Chiefly used with reference to the ancient custom or law that prohibited a proprietor from building at a less distance than two feet from the boundary of his land, lest he should injure his neighbor’s land by ‘eavesdrop.’
868. Kentish Charter, in Brit. Museum Fac-Sim., II. plate xxxviii. An folcæs folcryht to lefænne rumæs butan twiʓen fyt to yfæs drypæ.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev. (1872), III. I. ii. 15. The lean demigod … had … to wait under eavesdrops.
1880. Muirhead, Gaius, Digest 590. Rights of light, prospect, gutter, and eaves-drop.
