Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
A strap; more specifically a piece of leather or a substitute (notably canvas), or strip of wood covered with a suitable material, for honing a razor.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: razor strop
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A piece of rope spliced into a circular wreath, and put round a block for hanging it.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: nautical, transport
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A bad mood or temper. A tantrum.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Commonwealth, Ireland, UK
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A poor-quality or unsaleable diamond.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To hone (a razor or knife) with a strop.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To strap.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To mark a sequence of letters syntactically as having a special property, such as being a keyword, e.g. by enclosing in apostrophes as in 'foo' or writing in uppercase as in FOO.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a leather strap used to sharpen razors
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sharpener, strap
verb
sharpen on a strop
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sharpen
History
Same as strap (which see); recorded in English since 1702. The verb sense referring to honing a sharp edge is recorded since 1842.
Back-formation from stroppy.
From apostrophe, due to use of apostrophes as single quotation marks to indicate boldface in ALGOL 60. Other methods were used, especially in ALGOL 68, where the earlier matched apostrophes were no longer common, and the term became used more generally for any such method.
Across languages
20 source translations are retained for this English entry.
