Sc. and north. dial. Also 9 soup, saup. [a. ON. saup (cf. Norw. saup whey, buttermilk, Icel. saup soup), related to súpa to sup or sip.] A sup, sip; a small quantity of liquor; a drink.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xl. 27. Off wyne owt of ane choppyne stowp, They drank twa quartis, sowp and sowp.
1721. Ramsay, Elegy on Patie Birnie, vi. After ilk tune he took a sowp.
1785. Burns, Earnest Cry & Prayer, xxiv. Wi’ sowps o’ kail and brats o’ claise.
1865. M. R. L[ahee], Betty-o’-Yep’s Laughable T., 12. Aw’d a saup o’ tea an toast just afore aw seet off.
1873. Standing, Echoes fr. Lanc. Vale, 22. He were a reg’lar brick for a sowp o’ drink.
1877. G. Fraser, Wigtown, 355. Cud ee spare me a wee sowp o’ milk for an unweel wean?
