give a tup
The entry for two-penny in OED2 does not complete the evolution of the phrase give a twopenny. (The Brits issued a new two-penny coin in 1971, made of bronze, upon converting to a decimal system.)...
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I've never heard of "give a tup". But I do know that tupping is also a slang word for having sex. So it might be more ribald than you think!
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Yes, a tup is an old word for a ram (15th century, origin unknown, says OED1), then to put the ewe to the ram (1549), and hence to the general sense of copulate (1604, although all the OED cites for...
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while i heartily approve of looking for ribald associations anywhere and everywhere, i rather think it's futile to do so here, MoMac. Two pence, or tuppence, worth of anything, has for ages been...
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Anyone who's ever read any of the Flashman books will know that when our hero talks about tupping, he's not talking about what farmyard animals get up to. Whether or not you think that an "urban...
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I confess you caught me well and truly flat-footed with Flashman, MoMac --- though anyone who reads the Flashman stories and doesn't consult a dictionary, might suppose that "tupping" is a word for a...
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