dollop
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈdɒləp/
ipa: /ˈdɑləp/
rhymes: -ɒləp
Forms: form: dollops
form: dallop
Etymology: From earlier East Anglian dialectal dallop (“patch, tuft (of grass, etc.)”), of unknown origin. Compare dialectal Norwegian dolp (“lump”).
Senses: examples: text: Each pancake comes with a dollop of suspiciously soft butter in a tiny plastic cup.
text: Dallop, s[ubstantive] a deal heap, a division or small heap,[…]
ref: [1826, John Thomson, “Dallop”, in Etymons of English Words, Edinburgh: Published by Oliver & Boyd, Tweeddale-Court; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, →OCLC, column 1:
text: DALLOP, s[ubstantive] […] 5. A clumsy and shapeless lump of any thing tumbled about in the hands.
ref: [1830, Robert Forby, The Vocabulary of East Anglia; an Attempt to Record the Vulgar Tongue of the Twin Sister Counties, Norfolk and Suffolk, as It Existed in the Last Twenty Years of the Eighteenth Century, and still Exists; with Proof of Its Antiquity from Etymology and Authority. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed by and for J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols and Son, 25, Parliament Street, →OCLC, page 88:
text: In Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and, indeed, wherever there is a large fruit and vegetable market, there are a number of persons who regularly attend it, for the purpose of purchasing whatever may be, at the time, very cheap—either fruits or vegetables. […] These people are known amongst the dealers and hawkers as "Dollopers," and the lots they purchase are called "Dollops;" indeed, the latter term is applied to any article that a dealer may have left, after the market is over, if there is much of it. The "Dollopers" are well known to the dealers, and they (the latter) frequently call out to them, if they see them looking about the market, and have a "dollop" of anything on hand; […]
ref: [1858?], “Felix Folio” [pseudonym; John Page], “And Last”, in The Hawkers and Street Dealers of the North of England Manufacturing Districts; … Being Some Account of Their Dealings, Dodgings, and Doings, 2nd edition, Manchester: Abel Heywood, 58, Oldham Street; London: T. W. Grattan, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 129:
text: Dollop, sb. [substantive] 1. An awkward or clumsy-looking portion of anything, as of bread or meat. 2. A quantity or number of individuals forming a shapeless whole. […] 1. 'Weel! thee's getten a fairish dollop, thee has. It's a wem-fu' fur tweea as big as thou.' 2. 'Yon troot's biggest o' t' dollop by owght.'
ref: [1868, J. C. Atkinson, A Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect: Explanatory, Derivative, and Critical, London: John Russell Smith, Soho Square, →OCLC, page 146:
text: On lifting it up he was surprised by an unwonted feeling of stickiness; but when he held the instrument to the light, the reason revealed itself to him immediately in the form of a dollop of congealed chicken-broth, nicely rounded to the shape of the cup, which shot from its resting-place, with a clammy thud, on to his clean shirt-front, and then proceeded to slide rapidly down inside his dress waistcoat, leaving a snail-like track, dotted with grains of rice, behind it.
ref: 1907, Ian Hay [pseudonym; John Hay Beith], “The Philanthropists”, in “Pip”: A Romance of Youth, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood & Sons, →OCLC; republished Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; The Riverside Press Cambridge [Mass.], 1917, →OCLC, page 23
text: Although I was short and stubby, and could hardly manage a good serve or a great smash, what I lacked in height and strength I made up with dollops of enthusiasm and even managed it to the victorious throw-ball team.
ref: 2007, Lumen de Souza, “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, in Frederick Noronha, editor, Girls in Green: Memoirs from St. Mary’s, Saligão, Goa, India: Goa 1556, →ISBN, page 25:
glosses: A considerable lump, scoop, or quantity of something, especially soft food.
Derived terms: dollopy