South Africa. [Du., related to STEP sb. and v.
In the U.S. the Du. word has been adopted with the anglicized spelling STOOP.]
A raised platform or verandah running along the front and sometimes round the sides of a house of Dutch architecture.
1822. Burchell, Trav. S. Africa, I. iii. 71. In front of each house, and of the same length, is a paved platform…. This platform is called the Stoep (step).
1849. E. E. Napier, Excurs. S. Africa, I. 182. The ‘stoep’ is a narrow terrace raised outside most of the Dutch houses, where the owner may, towards evening, be generally seen smoking his pipe.
1883. Olive Schreiner, Afr. Farm, II. vi. (1889), 201. On the ‘stoep’ a group of men and boys were smoking.
1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 20 Jan., 2/1. On the stoep—that terraced verandah which is the unfailing appendage of a Dutch house—the good wife stands to welcome us.
b. Comb. stoep-room, a small room having entrance and exit by the stoep only.
1880. Helen M. Prichard, Friends & Foes in Transkei, xvii. 122. Two very miniature ‘stoep-rooms,’ as they are called at the Cape. (Small rooms stolen out of each end of the verandah.)
