Word.ws English Dictionary

tup

/tʌp/

tup noun: a male sheep, a ram.

Noun (1)

tup (plural tups)

  1. A male sheep, a ram.
    • ... to tie up rams, which could not be supposed to much used to handling ... having often heard for a proverb, as mad as a tup in an halter1790, Annals of Agriculture
    Synonyms:
    ram
  2. The head of a hammer, and particularly of a steam-driven hammer.
    • Those familiar with drop forging are accustomed to sizing drop hammers as 1 ton or 5 ton or whatever. This measure of the size is simply the weight of the tup. The total weight of the helve of No 2 is about 6.4 tons.1991, Dr J. McQuaid, “The 'Size' of the No.2 Hammer”, in The Cutting Edge
    • https://web.archive.org/web/20060708012426/http://www.key-to-steel.com/Articles/Art168.htm
      This is the modern equivalent of smith forging where the limited force of the blacksmith has been replaced by the mechanical or steam hammer. The process can be carried out by open forging where the hammer is...

Verb

tup (third-person singular simple present tups, present participle tupping, simple past and past participle tupped)

  1. To mate; used of a ram mating with a ewe.
    • Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    • The Langley Chase Flock - explanation of tupping
      Tupping is the term used for when the rams cover the ewes. For our flock, this takes place in November when the ewes naturally come into season.
    Synonyms:
    rut, Formal terms, bed, coit, coitize, dight, enjoy, feague, go in unto, go to bed with
  2. (slang) To have sex with, to bonk, etc.
    • I love her well enough to tup her, I suppose. A dangerous bit of business, that. She is as fertile as a bloody alluvial plain.2001, Simon Hawke, A Mystery of Errors
    • I was the one who convinced her you would not tup her, and that if you did you would never lie with her against her will.2003, Pierre Delattre, Woman on the Cross
    Synonyms:
    top up, Formal terms, bed, coit, coitize, dight, enjoy, feague, go in unto, go to bed with
  3. (English, regional, slang) To butt.

Noun (2)

tup (uncountable)

  1. Two pence.

Noun (3) capitalized: TUP

TUP (plural TUPs)

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of transfer under pressure.

Synonyms of tup

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of tup

Forms of tup

Noun
pluraltups
pluralTUPs
Verb
third-person singular presenttups
present participletupping
past participletupped
pasttupped

Origin of tup

From Middle English tupe (compare Scots tuip), origin unknown.

Clipping of tuppence (“two pence”).

Words formed from tup

Words that rhyme with tup

12 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about tup

What does tup mean?
Tup means a male sheep, a ram.
What part of speech is tup?
Tup can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce tup?
Tup is pronounced /tʌp/.
What is the plural of tup?
The plural of tup is tups.

Words near tup in the dictionary

  1. Tuokexun
  2. Tuolumne
  3. Tuolumne City
  4. Tuolumne County
  5. Tuotomb
  6. tup
  7. Tupa
  8. tupaiid
  9. tupaiids
  10. tupakihi
  11. Tupamaro

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tup (page history and authors); TUP (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tup.wav.

Cite this entry: “tup.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tup. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.