threap

T1H4R1E1A1P3
/θɹiːp/

noun

An altercation, quarrel, argument.

Scrabble 11

Meanings

threap1

nounthreap (plural threaps)

plural threaps · alternative threep · alternative threip · alternative threpe · alternative threeap · alternative thrape · alternative threp · alternative traep · alternative traip · alternative trep · alternative trape

  1. 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
  2. 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

verbthreap (third-person singular simple present threaps, present participle threaping, simple past and past participle threaped or threapt)

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

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. ScotlandTo cry out; complain; contend.
  4. ScotlandTo argue; bicker; scold; rebuke

    It's not for a man with a woman to threap.

    a. 1529, John Skelton, "The Old Cloak", in Thomas Percy (editor), Percy's Relics, published 1765
  5. 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-Dove
    3 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 173

    It 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 565

    While 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
  6. ScotlandTo cozen or cheat.

    Thus are men threaped out of their own persuasions.

    1677, Richard Gilpin, Daemonologia Sacra
  7. 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 110

    Thus 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, Finished

    Some 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

  1. Old English*þrēap“contention, strife”
  2. Middle Englishthrep“a rebuke”
  3. 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.

Full word history & related roots →

threap · verb

  1. Proto-Indo-European*trōw-“to beat, wound, kill, torment”
  2. Proto-Germanic*þrawjaną“to torment, injure, exhaust”
  3. Proto-Germanic*þrawō“torment, punishment”
  4. Proto-Germanic*þraupōną“to punish”
  5. Proto-West Germanic*þraupōn
  6. Old Englishþrēapian“to reprove, reprehend, punish, blame”
  7. Middle Englishthrepen“to scold”
  8. 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.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with threap

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

threap. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threap

MLA

“threap.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threap. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “threap,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/threap.

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