Naut. [Onomatopœic (connected with LOP v.3). Cf. LAP sb.2, v.1] A state of the sea in which the waves are short and lumpy.
1829. Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), I. 360. There was too much ‘lop.’ Ibid. (1838), II. 153. The wigeon … were always on a ‘lop of the sea.’
1847. Illustr. Lond. News, 10 July, 18/2. There being a ‘lop’ on, the boat lurched to windward.
1899. F. T. Bullen, Way Navy, 38. Quite a ‘lop’ of a sea gets up, but these battleships take no heed of it.
