gloppen

G2L1O1P3P3E1N1

verb

To be in fear; gaze in alarm or astonishment; look downcast

OriginMiddle English glopnen ← Old Norse glúpna ← Proto-Germanic *glupnōną →
Scrabble 12
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Meanings

verbgloppen (third-person singular simple present gloppens, present participle gloppening, simple past and past participle gloppened)

present singular third person gloppens · participle present gloppening · participle past gloppened · past gloppened

  1. Northern EnglandScotlandUKdialectalintransitiveTo be in fear; gaze in alarm or astonishment; look downcast

    "O Job! if you will help me," exclaimed Mary, brightening up (though it was but a wintry gleam after all), "tell me what to say, when they question me; I shall be so gloppened,* I shan't know what to answer." / *Gloppened; terrified.

    1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2000
  2. Northern EnglandScotlandUKdialectaltransitiveTo terrify; astonish; surprise.

    A pause before the intense guy cut in: "The Word of the Day is gloppen. Verb, transitive and intransitive. … One. To surprise or astonish. Two. To be startled or astonished. Gloppen."

    2006, Jeremy Iverson, High School Confidential: Secrets of an Undercover Student, →ISBN, page 59

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʰlub(ʰ)-“to yawn, gape”
  2. Proto-Germanic*glupnōną“to frighten, cause to stare”
  3. Old Norseglúpna“to frighten, grieve, look downcast”
  4. Middle Englishglopnen
  5. Englishgloppen

From Middle English glopnen, from Old Norse glúpna (“to frighten, grieve, look downcast”), from Proto-Germanic *glupnōną (“to frighten, cause to stare”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlub(ʰ)- (“to yawn, gape”). Cognate with Icelandic glúpna (“to put to shame”). More at glope.

More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

gloppen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gloppen

MLA

“gloppen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gloppen. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gloppen,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gloppen.

Source: gloppen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.