winesop en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈwaɪnˌsɒp/
Etymology
From Middle English wyne soppe, wynesoppe; equivalent to wine + sop.
Meanings
-
A piece of bread soaked in wine; a small cake made with grapes or wine.
Hence the proverb […] "to reduce one whose meal is a winesop to a dry crust."
1877, Saturday review of politics, literature, science and art, volume 43, page 649:Beatriz, for all her seeming frailty, had borne the long strain better, and presently came, offering winesops, the recognised restorative; small pieces of fine white bread soaked in wine.
1974, Norah Lofts, Crown of aloes:Winesops 1 cup butter 1 1.2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed 1 cup molasses […] 1 cup currants
2006, Rae Katherine Eighmey, How creative cooks fed the soul and spirit of America's heartland, page 23:His wife gave her a winesop to eat and after, undressing her, put her to bed; and they contrived that night to have her and her maid carried to Florence.
circa 1982, John Payne, Decameron (translated from Giovanni Boccaccio's Italian)
-
(broadly, derogatory, figuratively) A drunkard, a wino.
"I'm going to give you Mr. Whish — or the winesop that remains of him," continued Attwater.
1913, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, The ebb-tide: A trio and a quartette, page 214:"Aye, he was good at skulking around and acting like a winesop or an idiot."
2003, Sagas of Conan, page 293:[…] "we're being maneuvered into providing a gala State funeral for that reprobate winesop."
2000, Stephen Lawhead, Avalon: The Return of King Arthur, page 61:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| winesops | Number=Plur | lexicographic |