Meanings
threap1
plural threaps · alternative threep · alternative threip · alternative threpe · alternative threeap · alternative thrape · alternative threp · alternative traep · alternative traip · alternative trep · alternative trape
- ScotlandAn altercation, quarrel, argument.
- ScotlandAn accusation or serious charge.
And let us see what is to be done, and hear patiently all Assertions and Threaps; let this Rain fall to the Ground, and then fall thou to Exercise.
1738, James Fraser, Memoirs of the Life of the Very Reverend Mr. James Fraser, page 181 - ScotlandStubborn insistence.
- ScotlandA superstition or freet.
Then, (since my soul disowns the impious threap, That death is only an eternal sleep;) Then with an aching heart, I long to know, How we, my Henry, in the shades below, Shall bear the sceptre and the iron rod Of the grim Tyrant of the dark abode.
1796, Thomas Muir, The Telegraph; a Consolatory Epistle
threap2
present singular third person threaps · participle present threaping · participle past threaped · past threaped · participle past threapt · past threapt · alternative threep · alternative threip · alternative threpe · alternative threeap · alternative thrape · alternative threp · alternative traep · alternative traip · alternative trep · alternative trape
- ScotlandtransitiveTo contradict.
I told them I went to seek him, but they threaped me and said I did not.
1778, Nicholas Wilkinson, The Trial at Large of Nicholas Wilkinson - ScotlandTo denounce.
1 more example
O he is attended vpon moſt Babilonically, and Xerxes ſo ouercloyd not the Helleſpont with his foyſtes, gallies, and brigandines, as he mantleth the narrow ſeas with his retinue, being not much behinde in the checkroule of his Ianiſſaries and contributories, with Eagle-ſoaring Bullingbrooke, that at his remouing of houſhold into baniſhment (as father Froyſard threapes vs downe) was accompanied with 40000, men wemen and children weeping, from London to the landes end at Douer.
1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 32 - ScotlandTo affirm; to express with conviction.
Come then, threap kindnesse yet apon thy King, Tell him that in the prison thou wilt sing His praises
1664, John Fullartoun, The Turtle-Dove3 more examples
Take faith with you, and the stronger it is, it will be the more agreeable present to Christ; put a firm trust and confidence in his blood and bowels, bode and threap kindness on him
1761, John Willison, Sacramental meditations and advices, page 173It is useful sometimes to threap good upon people, providing it be done soberly, prudently, and not in a flattering way, speaking nothing but truth, and withal, doing is seasonably, when the doing thereof will not foster pride nor conceit in people, but will make way, and open a door for receiving the wholesome admonitions and profitable directionsl as the apsotle doth here threap good upon these Romans, to the end his freedom in speaking to them might be the better welcomed, and less exception might be made against it: And I myself am persuaded of you, &c.
1766, John Brown, An Exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, page 565While the young swankies on the green Took round a merry tirle: Meg Wallet wi' her pinky een Gart Lawrie's heart-strings dirle; And fouk wad threap, that she did green For what wad atar her skirle and skreigh some day.
1800, Allan Ramsay, The Poems of Allan Ramsay - Volume 1, page 262 - ScotlandTo maintain obstinately against denial or contradiction; to insist (on).
He threaped me down that it was so.
3 more examples
I eat some of it so prepared in an English Man's House in this City, and who would threap me down, that it was Sampire, and so named in his Country of Lincolnshire.
1727, Caleb Threlkeld, Synopsis Stirpium Hibernicarum Alphabetice Dispositarum, page 110Thus the Power of Truth has so great Influence upon you, as to make you decline the Debate, and to yield the Argument to me, and yet your inveterate Prejudices still prevail, and have the Mastery over you, to threap what you cannot defend, but will have others do it for you, who are no way interested;
1733, George Logan, The Humble and Modest Inquiry Concerning the Right and Power of Electing and Calling Ministers to vacant Churches, FinishedSome herds, weel learn'd upo' the beuk, / Wad threap auld folk the thing misteuk;
1785, Robert Burns, Epistle To William Simson Schoolmaster, Ochiltree
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
threap · noun
- Old English*þrēap“contention, strife”
- Middle Englishthrep“a rebuke”
- Englishthreap
From Middle English threp (“a rebuke”), from the verb (see below). Alternative etymology derives Middle English threp, from Old English *þrēap (“contention, strife”) (attested only as Old English þrēap, in the sense of "troop, band"), ultimately from the same Germanic origin below.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →threap · verb
- Proto-Indo-European*trōw-“to beat, wound, kill, torment”
- Proto-Germanic*þrawjaną“to torment, injure, exhaust”
- Proto-Germanic*þrawō“torment, punishment”
- Proto-Germanic*þraupōną“to punish”
- Proto-West Germanic*þraupōn
- Old Englishþrēapian“to reprove, reprehend, punish, blame”
- Middle Englishthrepen“to scold”
- Englishthreap
From Middle English threpen (“to scold”), from Old English þrēapian (“to reprove, reprehend, punish, blame”), from Proto-West Germanic *þraupōn, from Proto-Germanic *þraupōną (“to punish”), from Proto-Germanic *þrawō (“torment, punishment”), from Proto-Germanic *þrawjaną (“to torment, injure, exhaust”), from Proto-Indo-European *trōw- (“to beat, wound, kill, torment”). Akin to Old English þrēagan (“to rebuke, punish, chastise”), þrēa (“correction, punishment”), þrōwian (“to suffer”). More at throe.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with threap
Anagrams
Cite this entry
threap. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threap
“threap.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threap. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “threap,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threap.
Source: threap on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.