neap

plural neaps

1. The tongue or pole of a cart or other vehicle drawn by two animals.

1. not comparableLow; lowest; the ebb or lowest point of a tide.
2. not comparableDesignating a tide which occurs just after the first and third quarters of the moon, when there is the least difference between high tide and low tide.

   Little groups of sailors came swinging along and pushied their way noisily inside the gaudy joints. Sex everywhere: it was slopping over, a neap tide that swept the props from under the city.

   1934, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer

present singular third person neaps · participle present neaping · participle past neaped · past neaped

1. transitiveTo trap (a ship) in water too shallow to move, due to the smaller tidal range occurring in a period of neap tides.

   At 8, being high water, hauld her bow close ashore, but Keept her stern afloat, because I was afraid of Neaping her, and yet it was necessary to lay the whole of her as near the ground as possible.

   1770, Captain James Cook, Journal During the First Voyage Round the World, entry for 22 June 1770

2. intransitiveTo ooze, to sink, to subside, to tail.

   1 more example

   It is well known that the spring tides happen at the change and full of the moon, at which time she is conjunction with and opposition to the sun. As these retire from their conjunction, the tides neap till about three days after the first quadrature, when the tides begin again to be more and more elevated, and arrive at their maximum about the third day after the opposition.

   1831, Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, volume II page 860

plural neaps

1. A neap tide.

   Both […] swam not landward, but toward the horizon. Very good luck, for they entered a neap rushing headlong toward shore and into a river beyond.

   2008, Toni Morrison, A Mercy, Chatto & Windus, page 115

plural neaps

1. alternativeAlternative form of neep.