† copplingcoplingadj.
Obsolete.
1. Swelling upwards to a summit.
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the world > space > extension in space > expansion or enlargement > [adjective] > distending > swelling > swelling or swollen up
coppling1670
upswelled1878
the world > space > shape > curvature > curved surface > [adjective] > convex > upwardly convex
hulch-backed1611
perch-backed1652
coppling1670
humpbacked1681
hog-backed1717
sow-backed1728
fish-backed1825
whalebacked1869
whaleback1891
beetle-backed1959
1670 H. Stubbe Plus Ultra 144 It rose with an unequal intumescence, copling, like a loaf in the midst.
1688 Mem. Eng. Protestants in Coll. Scarce & Valuable Tracts (1748) II. 305 A few Foreigners of no Quality were only to keep the Secret of what her Majesty was to make the copling Belly.
1694 Narbrough's Acct. Several Late Voy. 23 A small rocky Island, copling up like a Haycock.
1694 Narbrough's Acct. Several Late Voy. 42 Large Hills, and some round copling tops.
1694 Narbrough's Acct. Several Late Voy. 80 Two peaked copling Rocks.
1745 P. Thomas True Jrnl. Voy. South-Seas 18 The Country about it is pretty much on the Level, except a few copling Hillocks to the Northward.
2. Of the sea: Surging up into short irregular waves, tumbling; = cockling adj.2
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1667 H. Stubbe in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 2 497 The waves..are short, and make a Copling Sea in the Bay of Biscay.
3. Of stones, etc.: Unsteady, toppling; = cockling adj.3.
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a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Coppling, adv., unsteady, in danger of falling. ‘It stands coppling, as if it stood upon its head’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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adj.1667