[f. prec. sb.]
1. trans. Of the ram: To copulate with (the ewe); also transf.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. i. 89. An old blacke Ram Is tupping your white Ewe.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 28. Those that have theire ewes tupped betimes.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais, V. (1737), 222. They will not be ridden, tupp’d, and ramm’d.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 1108. Most of the ewes will be tupped during the second week the tup is amongst them.
1861. Times, 16 Oct. Ewes are tupped on grass, have hay on the winter pasture in case of deep snow, lamb in the same field, and are also fattened off on grass.
b. To beget (a lamb); in quot. pass.
1721. Kelly, Scot. Prov., 307. The Lamb where it’s tipped, and the Ewe where she’s clipped. A proverbial Rule about Tythes; signifying that the Lamb shall pay Tythes in the Place where the Ewe was when she took the Ram, but the old Sheep where they were shorn.
c. To put (ewes) to the ram. dial.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Lincoln., 318. Mr. Skipwith of Alesby tups 1400 ewes. Ibid., 337. Little farmers, who tup under 60 ewes.
2. intr. a. Of the ewe: To admit the ram. b. Of the ram: To copulate. Also transf.
1549. Chaloner, Erasm. Praise Folly, F ij b. These old women … will euer yet haue this prouerbe (lyfe is lyfe) in their mouthes, still plaie the wantons, and still be tuppyng.
1614. C. Brooke, Eglogues, F vj b. Whiles thy Rams do Tup, thy Ewes do twyn.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 3. The tuppes goinge allwayes with them, some of the ewes will tuppe sooner, and some later.
1721. Kelly, Scot. Prov., 306. Tip when you will, you shall Lamb with the Leave [= lave].
† 3. trans. To furnish with horns like a ram’s; cf. HORN v. 2. Obs. rare–1.
1608. Day, Law Trickes, I. i. A iv. She was my wife and by her meanes, my head was fayrely tupt, and you will buy a Lanthorne: Bespeake my sconce, tis ready hornd and all.
4. trans. and intr. ‘To but like a ram’ (J.).
1654. [see tupping vbl. sb. below].
1847–78. in Halliwell.
1876. Mid-Yorks. Gloss., Tup,… to butt.
Hence Tupped ppl. a., Tupping vbl. sb. (also attrib.).
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, III. iv. 89. Ramms taken for Gyants,… the Wethers bels for Drumms, and their taile clouts, their colours, their tupping and rutting for the maine Battalia.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Lincoln., 318. Never give turnips to tupped ewes.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 599. A shepherd … has attentively observed the tupping, and marked the reckoning of every ewe.
1886. C. Scott, Sheep-Farming, 80. The ewes will have been marked at tupping-time for each week’s lambing.
