c888 Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. xvi. §2 ge furþum þeos lytle loppe hine [sc. man] hwilum deadne gedeþ.

c1000 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 121/27 Loppe, fleonde næddre, uel attorcoppe.

c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) i. §19. 11 From this senyth..ther come a maner krokede strikes like to the clawes of a loppe.

c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) i. §3. 4 S[h]apen in manere of a net or of a webbe of a loppe.

c1400 Ragman Roll 72 in W. C. Hazlitt Remains Early Pop. Poetry Eng. (1864) I. 72 Ye lade longe sydyde as a loppe.

1480 W. Caxton Chron. Eng. D vij b After this Boor shall come a lambe that shall haue feet of leed an hede of bras an hert of a loppe.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. viii. 81 Grete loppys ouer all þis land thay [sc. the plague of ‘flies’] fly.

1597 G. Harvey Trimming T. Nashe in Wks. (1885) III. 43 But see, what, art thou heere? lupus in fabula, a lop in a chaine?

1662 A. Brome Rump (new ed.) i. 192 Lay-interlining Clergy, a device That's nick-name to the stuff call'd Lops and Lice.

1674 J. Ray N. Countrey Words in Coll. Eng. Words 31 Lops and Lice, used in the South, i.e. Fleas and Lice.

1755 in S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang.

1787 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. Lop, a flea. N.

1863 J. P. Robson Songs Bards of Tyne 237 The sheets lily-white, though aw says it mysel'; Maw darlin', nee lops there to touch us.

1877 in E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs.

1656 tr. J. A. Comenius Latinæ Linguæ Janua Reserata: Gate Lat. Tongue Unlocked xxxvii. §371 Hee pruneth every year, that new branches may spring from the Lope, or pruned tree.

1675 Jones's Reports 280 They must..not cut the Loppes flat, so that the water may stand on them, and rot them.

1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxxiv. 198 What loads of haye, what grasse for bief, what store of wood for loppe.

a1600 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie vii. i, in Wks. (1662) 3 It hath not seemed expedient to offer the edge of the axe unto all three boughs at once, but rather to..strike at the weakest first, making show that the lop of that one shall draw the more abundance of sap to the other two.

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas III. vii. xii. 158 The lop-limbed captain would have gone raving mad at it.

1821 N. Garry Diary 19 Aug. (1900) 149 After Dinner we observed that two of our Men had lopped away the Boughs and all the Lower Branches of two Trees leaving a Top. This is called a Lop-Stick.

1847 J. B. Nevins Two Voy. Hudson's Bay iv. 90 Two gentlemen were travelling a short time since, and lobsticks were cut for them.

1873 G. M. Grant Ocean to Ocean vii. 196 There is an old superstition that your health and length of days will correspond to your lobstick's.

1892 W. Pike Barren Ground N. Canada 209 Often on the lonely waterways of the Northern country one sees a lop-stick showing far ahead on the bank, and reads a name celebrated in the annals of the Hudson's Bay Company or in the history of Arctic exploration.

1923 Beaver Aug. 421 To commemorate this great battle, three lobsticks were cut on each side of the river.

1949 Argosy Apr. 13 On the far side of the lake, if you must portage, use the ‘lop-stick’ mark. This is made by cutting all branches from one side of a tall tree which may be seen either from water or land. Its unnatural appearance attracts the eye; the side from which branches are cut indicates the direction of portage.

1964 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 18 Oct. 1/12 There was a tradition among the Northern Indians that a lobstick honouring an individual would fall when its sponsor died.

1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Reflect. Agric. xxi. 75 in Compl. Gard'ner They afford both much Lop-wood and Fruit.

1794 T. Stone Gen. View Agric. Lincoln 93 [Trees] which will consequently produce most bark, and top or lop-wood.

1888 Academy 4 Feb. 71/1 The curious customs of ‘lop-wood’ or privileges of cutting fuel from pollards at certain seasons of the year.

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 342 The land Frogs of Toads kind, have one lop or lappet of the Liver, which Ants will not touch.

1773 Encycl. Brit. III. 886/2 The bark should be rounder beat, and more given to the lop, for large hides than small ones; and consequently larger leather should lie longer in the lop.

1829 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 360 There was too much ‘lop’.

1838 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 153 The wigeon..were always on a ‘lop of the sea’.

1847 Illustr. London News 10 July 18/2 There being a ‘lop’ on, the boat lurched to windward.

1899 F. T. Bullen Way Navy 38 Quite a ‘lop’ of a sea gets up, but these battleships take no heed of it.

1868 C. Darwin Variation Animals & Plants I. iv. 107 When one parent, or even both, are oar-laps [sic], that is, have their ears sticking out at right angles, or when one parent or both are half-lops, that is, have only one ear dependent, there is nearly as good a chance of the progeny having both ears full-lop, as if both parents had been thus characterized. But I am informed, if both parents have upright ears, there is hardly a chance of a full-lop.

1877 C. Rayson Rabbits xiii. 70 In rearing lops, little divergence need be made from the usual mode adopted.

1884 R. O. Edwards Rabbits vii. 54 It is very difficult to arrive at whether or not the drooping of the ears of the Lop is natural.

1884 R. O. Edwards Rabbits vii. 55 Oar Lops, Half Lops, and Horn Lops, are not..to be considered anything fancy.

1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus ii. iv. 17 What sterne vngentle hands, Hath lopt, and hewde, and made thy body bare, Of her two branches. View more context for this quotation

1622 R. Hawkins Observ. Voiage South Sea lv. 130 One plowing; another harrowing; another sowing; and lopping.

1651 W. G. tr. J. Cowell Inst. Lawes Eng. 265 Where any one is killed, with the fall of an Arme or Lopp of a Tree..after warning given by the parties who are..lopping.

1856 S. Winkworth Life Tauler in Tauler's Serm. (1857) ix. 249 They leave the roots of vice and evil dispositions alive in the heart, and hew and lop at poor nature, and thereby destroy this noble vineyard.

1828 in N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. ; and in later Dicts.

1895 K. Grahame Golden Age 102 The staidest of the rabbits was lopping demurely about the grass.

1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 91 Lopping easily along, a fox crosses through the teazles.

1901 S. E. White Westerners xvi. 131 His broad hat—straight-brimmed in a lop-brimmed camp—was pushed to one side.

1880 Scribner's Monthly Feb. 491 A most picturesque old dwelling, with low lop-eaves.

1831 J. Morton Gloucestershire Hill-farm 14 in Farm-rep. All the seeds of grass, lop-grass, and other seeds, which come up amongst the barley.

1883 W. H. Cope Gloss. Hampshire Words

1886 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names Lob, or Lop Grass. Bromus mollis... It is sometimes called simply Lop.

1884 R. O. Edwards Rabbits vii. 52 The Lop Rabbit.

1897 Westm. Gaz. 24 Aug. 7/2 The bow is being canvassed over to prevent, as much as possible, the water lopping in.

1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Oii/1 To Loppe as milk, coagulare.

1893 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words Lop, to curdle, applied to milk that curdles without the application of an acid.