OE Beowulf 785 Þara þe of wealle wop gehyrdon, gryreleoð galan Godes andsacan.

c1000 West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) viii. 12 Þær bið wop & toþa gristbitung.

c1175 Lamb. Hom. 157 Ure drihten..iturnd hore horte and heore wope to muchele blisse.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 2978 Wælle muchel wes þa wop [c1300 Otho wepinge].

1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 6912 Heo..bileuede þer al niȝt In wop & in orisons.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 71 Oure blisse is ywent in-to wop.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 276 Iblescet beo þu lauerd. þe..efter wopi wattres ȝeldest bliðe murchðes.

1912 A. C. Train Courts, Criminals & Camorra ix. 232 There is a society of criminal young men in New York City... They are known by the euphonious name of ‘Waps’ or ‘Jacks’. These are young Italian-Americans who allow themselves to be supported by one or two women... They form one variety of the many gangs that infest the city.]

1914 L. E. Jackson & C. R. Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 88 Wop, noun. Used principally in the east. An ignorant person; a foreigner; an impossible character... Example: ‘You couldn't find a jitney with a search warrant in this bunch of wops.’

1915 P. G. Wodehouse Psmith, Journalist xix. 138 He's a wop, kid... A wop. A dago... An Italian.

1924 E. Hemingway In our Time 17 Wops, said Boyle, I can tell wops a mile off.

1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart ii. 78 Lysistrata. What they call an American is only a wop pretending to be a Pilgrim Father. He is no more Uncle Jonathan than you are John Bull. Magnus. Yes: we live in a world of wops, all melting into one another.

1940 N. Mitford Pigeon Pie i. 7 Luke's Italian was far more affected than that of any native wop.

1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 13 June 26 The pilots..suggested that the ‘Wops were yellow’ or that they could not ‘take it through cloud’.

1952 E. F. Davies Illyrian Venture ii. 26 We had breakfast in the mess tent, waited on by a cheerful wop.

1973 ‘I. Drummond’ Jaws of Watchdog ii. 26 Sandro dived into the pool... ‘You great fat clumsy Wop,’ said Jenny, ‘you've put my cigarette out.’

1937 D. Runyon More than Somewhat v. 104 Leaving the wop yelling very loud, and maybe cussing us in wop for all I know.

1938 E. Pound Let. 6 May (1971) 313 ‘Sardinia is Barbagia’ don't seem either English or Wop.

1982 A. Melville-Ross Trigger xx. 225 There's a lot of chat in Wop which I doesn't understand.

1928 S. Lewis Man who knew Coolidge i. 53 Too many foreigners—fellows with Wop names and Hunky names.

1938 E. Pound Let. 8 Jan. (1971) 303 ‘Praedis’: I don't care how you spell your wop painters.

1940 R. Stout Over my Dead Body vi. 84 I don't care if the background is wop or mick or kike..so long as it's American.

1941 C. Milburn Diary 15 Feb. (1979) 83 We have dropped parachutists in Italy... A very nice surprise for our ‘Wop’ enemy!

1955 E. Waugh Officers & Gentlemen 326 You'll find her full of wop prisoners.

1983 S. F. X. Dean It can't be my Grave iv. 64 Are you telling me, you Wop son of a bitch, that I can't get into my father's lift?

1939 Airman's Gaz. Dec. 3/1 You have a choice of three..trades—..W.O.M.,..W.E.M.,..and the W/Op. which rude people twist into Wop (most unfairly).

1957 R. Barker Ship-busters iv. 70 Wireless operator/air gunners..most of the wop/A.G.s..came straight from gunnery school.