Now Sc. and north. dial. Forms: 1 ðreapian, 3 þreape, (Orm.) þræpenn, 3–5 þrepe, 3–7 threpe, 4–6 threppe, (4–5 pa. t. þrappit, þreppit), 5–6 threip, 6 thraip, 6–7 threape, 6–9 threep, 6– threap. [OE. þrépian to rebuke, reprehend: of uncertain history.]
1. trans. To rebuke, reprove, chide, scold, blame.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxi. 165. Ðanne he to suiðe & to ðearllice ðreapian wile his hieremenn.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter xciii[i]. 10. Þat vndretakes genge, noght threpe mon, Þat leres man wisedome to kun?
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 106. Let not mee falslye be threpped.
1682. Shadwell, Lanc. Witches, V. 7. Who threped and threped, and aw to becaw’d me.
1787. Grose, Provinc. Gloss., Threap, or Threapen, to blame, rebuke, reprove, or chide.
1877. N. W. Linc. Gloss., s.v., I wen’t be threp by a bairn like thoo.
1879. Clough, B. Bresskittle, 14 (E.D.D.). Th’ owd lass … threap’d me foinly.
† b. To threap (a person) with kindness = to threap kindness upon: see 4 b. Obs.
1567. Jewel, Lett. to Harding, in Def. Apol., Rrr j b. Yee threape her Maiestie fondely with kindenesse.
2. intr. To contend in words; to inveigh against; to argue, dispute; to quarrel, bicker, disagree; to wrangle about terms, haggle.
c. 1200. Ormin, 5744. Acc himm birrþ þræpenn aȝȝ wiþþ skill Onnȝæness alle sinness.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 4352. Whan ȝe aȝens þe prechur þrepe. Ibid., 6065. Aȝens mokerers wyl y þrepe.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2152. Than … priam … Þonket hom þroly, þrappit no lengur. Ibid., 12235. He þroly with þrong wil þreppit agayn.
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 79. Thank me not ouir airlie, for dreid that we threip.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), III. 454. The erle of Craufurd that same tyme and he,… Begouth to threip quha than that war best peiris.
15[?]. Ballad, Take thy old cloak about thee, 67. It’s not for a man with a woman to threape Unless he first gave oer the plea.
1755. Johnson, To Threap, a country word denoting to argue much or contend.
1847. C. Brontë, J. Eyre, xxix. They were so agreeable with each other—never fell out nor ‘threaped.’
1871. [see THREAPING vbl. sb.].
1873. Lytton, Parisians, IX. iii. Threep and argue as we may.
† b. intr. To fight, struggle, strive, contend. Obs.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 504. Bot þenne þe weder of þe worlde wyth wynter hit þrepez.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 930. Of the nyghtgale notez the noisez was swette, They threpide wyth the throstilles, thre hundreth at ones!
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2003. Þre dayes þroly þai þrappit with stormys. Ibid., 10098. Mony thoghtes full þro þrappit in his hert. Ibid., 12134. In þronge and in þraldom þrepe with þe werld.
3. trans. (usu. with obj. cl.) To persist in asserting (something contradicted or doubted); to affirm positively or pertinaciously; to maintain obstinately or aggressively.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 273. Sol gold is and Luna siluer we threpe.
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 199. Thay threip that I thring doun of the fattest.
1509. Fisher, Wks. (1876), 299. Some other threpe that he hathe forgoten theym.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Threpe,… to affirme positively, or to face one down with confidence; still used in the North.
1728. Ramsay, Cameleon, 26. I say he’s blue; He threaps, he’s green: now what say you?
a. 1774. Fergusson, Drink, Ecl. Poems (1845), 53. Will ye your breedin’ threep ye mongrel loun?
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxiv. He threeps the castle and lands are his ain as his mother’s eldest son.
1887. P. M’Neill, Blawearie, 50. A group o’ niners … threepit doon my throat that the grave … was only about four feet deep.
b. To threap (a person) out of: to move or do (him) out of (something) by persistent assertion.
1677. Gilpin, Demonol. (1867), 168. Thus are men threaped out of their own persuasions.
1885. J. Hartley, Clock Alm., 40 (Yorks.) (E.D.D.). Shoo tried to threap me aght on it.
c. with inf. To insist on or persist in doing something. rare–1.
1827. Scott, Surg. Dau., i. She threeps to keep on a black fause-face, and skirls if we offer to take it away.
4. To threap (something) upon (a person): † a. To impose (an assertion) upon; to lend or try to lead one to believe by persistent assertion. Obs.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 482. When his servandis wolde eatt any gude meate, þai wolde threpe vppon hym at he was seke.
1530. Palsgr., 755/2. I threpe a mater upon one, I beare one in hande that he hath doone or saide a thing a mysse…. This terme is … farre northren. He wolde threpe upon me that I have his penne.
1608. Hieron, 2nd Pt. Def. Ministers’ Reas. Refusal Subscription, 72. Slaundring the Ministers and threaping one and the same … slaunder vpon them.
† b. To impute, attribute, ascribe (something) to a person. To threap kindness or love upon (also of): to attribute kindness, etc. to; to give (one) credit for love or goodwill, to urge to the exercise of kindness. (See also 1 b.) Obs.
1559. Bercher, Nobylytye Wymen (1904), 104. In dede … you threape kindenes vppon me, and surely … I can well a way wth yor prayse.
1579. W. Wilkinson, Confut. Familye of Loue, 65. It is but a vayne kyndnes, which Theophilus in this place threapeth on God.
1589. R. Bruce, Serm. (1843), 129. Thou suld threep kindness of him.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, 152. The baudie rymes he threapes vpon me.
a. 1603. T. Cartwright, Confut. Rhem. N. T. (1618), 231. You do but threap kindnesse of the Hereticks, as you call them; for they acknowledge no such miracles to be done by your reliques.
1648. J. Beaumont, Psyche, V. ccxxvii. Behold how gross a Ly of Ugliness They on my face have threaped.
1660. Dickson, Writings (1845), I. 42. If any wilt threap love upon God, they shall not be disappointed.
1730. T. Boston, Serm. Song of Sol. ii. 17, Wks. 1855, V. 552. It will make men very peremptory for Christ, that they will not take a refusal, to threap kindness on him and special interest in him.
c. To thrust, obtrude, press (something) upon a person; to urge upon him acceptance of or acquiescence in.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. xviii. 3. If Sathan threpe any feare uppon us, it may be kept farre of from enterance.
1690. C. Nesse, O. & N. Test., I. 68. Araunah had a princely spirit … but generous David threaps upon him fifty shekels.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xv. Monkbarns had threepit on them to gang in till ’t to see the wark o’ the monks lang syne.
1869. ‘Ouida,’ Puck, xlii. Look’ee here! These arena goods to threap.
5. To threap down: to put down or silence by vehement or pertinacious assertion; also, with double object (sb. and clause), to threap (a person) down (that.…): to try to force a statement upon (a person) by strength of assertion or insistent reiteration.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (1871), 51. Bolingbroke,… at his removing … into banishment, as Father Froissart threaps down, was accompanied with forty-thousand men, women, and children weeping.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 83. You may as well threap one down, that a ghost is heavier or lighter, colder or hotter,… whiter or blacker than a body.
1841. R. W. Hamilton, Nugæ Lit., 340. A man will say of a clamorous talker, he did not convince me, but he threaped me down.
1877. Leigh, Cheshire Gloss., s.v., He thraped me down it were noine, but I knowed it were a dozen.
Hence Threaping vbl. sb. and ppl. a.; Threaper, one who ‘threaps’ or persistently asserts.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxi. 167. ʓif him mon to unʓemetlice mid ðære ðreapunga oferfylʓð.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 183. For þeft, & for þrepyng, vnþonk may mon haue.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 10847. A thowsaund full þro, þrepand in wer.
c. 1440. York Myst., xl. 105. Thei thraste hym full thraly, þan was þer no threpyng.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xxviii. 19. Do way youre threpyng! are ye wode?
1785. [W. Hutton], Bran New Wark, 38. Naa brawling or threaping is heard.
1871. W. Alexander, Johnny Gibb, i. Johnny offered ‘sax poun’ … after much ‘threepin’ as his ultimatum.
1871. P. H. Waddell, Ps. xxxv. 11. Thar raise amang them threepers o’ ill.
1899. Leeds Merc., Suppl., 18 Feb. (E.D.D.). Ah niver knew sich a threaper as thee.
