Forms: 4–6 loup(e, 5–6 lowp(e, 6 loope, 5–7 lope, 7– loop. [Prob. connected with MDu. lûpen (mod.Du. luipen), to lie in wait, watch, peer; cf. MDu. glûpen (mod.Du. gluipen) of similar meaning, mod.Du. gluip narrow opening, crack of a door. An Anglo-Lat. loupis abl. pl., app. repr. this word, is cited by Du Cange from a document of 1394.]
1. An opening in a wall, to look through, or to allow the passage of a missile; a loop-hole.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 792. Wyth mony luflych loupe, þat louked ful clene.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XXI. 288. Eche chyne stoppe, þat no light leope yn at louer ne at loupe.
a. 1470. Gregory, in Hist. Coll. Lond. Cit. (Camden), 213. They hadde … loupys with schyttyng wyndowys to schute owte at.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 664. A place with a particioun atwene both prynces … made with a lowpe, that eyther myght se other.
1512. MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp., Canterb., For makyng off a loope in þe dorter at þe susters syde vjd.
a. 1532. Ld. Berners, Huon, clxvi. 655. The sayd wacheman came to ye wall syde, where as there was a strayte lope into Florence chaumbre.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 1215/1. One of them could not so soone looke out at a loope, but three or foure were readie to salute him.
1596. Lodge, Marg. Amer., 63. A square and curious chamber, with fiue loopes to yeeld light.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, XI. xxxii. 201. Some at the loopes durst scant out peepe.
1628. Coke, On Litt., 5 a. Tenellare or tanellare, is to make holes or loopes in walls to shoote out against the Assailants.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, i. (1826), 12. Some remains of massy walls, still exhibited loops for archers.
c. 1822. Beddoes, Pygmalion, Poems 160. A blinded loop In Pluto’s madhouse green and wormy wall.
1846. Guide Archit. Antiq. Neighbourhood Oxford, 164. On the first floor [Northleigh Ch. tower] the windows are plain Norman loops.
1864. Browning, Worst of It, xii. I spy the loop whence an arrow shoots.
b. fig. and in figurative contexts.
1863. Kinglake, Crimea, II. 118. Closing the loops by which a general might seek to escape from the obligation of having to make the venture.
1872. T. L. Cuyler, Heart-Culture, 102. The soul becomes luminous, until the interior light and glow blaze out through every loop and crevice.
† 2. An opening in the parapet of a fortification; an embrasure. Obs.
c. 1477. Caxton, Jason, 14 b. They of Oliferne … ran unto the bateillement and lowpes of the walles.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. cccxxi. 499. At another lope of the wall on a ladder … the lorde of Sercell … fought hande to hande with his enemyes.
1544. Late Exped. Scot., 6, in Dalyell, Fragm. Sc. Hist. (1798). They repulsed the Scottyshe gonners from the loupes of the same [gate].
1553. Brende, Q. Curtius, Cc viii. The walle … was very narowe in the toppe not divided with lopes … but enclosed with one whole and continuall battilment rounde about.
1575. Churchyard, Chippes (1817), 148. Some beate the lowps, some ply the walles with shot.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 381. A yew tree … cut on the top with loop and crest, like the battlements of a Tower.
fig. a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), Q vj b. Euery lightnes done in youth breketh down a loope of the defence of our lyfe.
3. Comb., as loop-window.
1573–80. Baret, Alv., C 161. A loupe windowe or casement.
1848. Rickman, Styles Archit. (ed. 5), 94. Some windows of this style are long and narrow…. Similar loop windows with square tops occur occasionally also in Norman work.
1892. A. Heales, Archit. Ch. Denmark, 68. A small round-headed loop-window.
