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 1843-4. Haliburton, Attaché, ii. I began to think smokin' warn't so bad after all, when whap went my cigar right out of my mouth into my bosom.

Whopper (Whapper), subs. (common).—Anything very large, fine, good: a generic intensive (Grose): also whopping = extremely fine, very large, A1 (q.v.).

[1520. Hazlitt, Pop. Poet., ii. 94. An admiring woman calls a stalwart youth a whypper; in our day she would use whopper or whacker.]

1706. Ward, Wooden World, 69. He looks then most formidable in his Fur-cap and whapping large Watch-coat.

1829. Marryat, Fr. Mildmay, xx. This is a whopper that's after us.

1847. Robb, Squatter Life, 61. A whappin' big pan of mush stood in the centre of a table, and a large pan of milk beside it, with lots of corn-bread and butter.

1856. Dow, Sermons, i. 91. Before you lie, brethren, make up your minds to go it strong; for a little callow fib stands but a small chance among the big whoppers. Ibid., iii. 21. A few years ago, whapping great sleeves and big antecedents were all the rage; and what a funny figure our bellies did then cut.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, xlvii. There's a whopper rising not more than ten yards below the rail.

1865. Major Downing, Letters, 67. We've got only one crib, and that's a whappin' one too.

1887. Harper's Mag., lxxiii. 213. But he hardly deserves mercy, having told whoppers.

1888. St. James's Gaz., 2 Mar. Not content with two whoppers, as Mr. Jo Gargery might call them, Surtees goes on to invent a perfectly incredible heraldic bearing.

1901. Walker, In the Blood, 23. 'Blime, she's a whopper!' says Billy.

Whop-straw (or Johnny Whop-straw), subs. phr. (common).—A countryman, rustic, clodhopper (q.v.).

Whore, subs. (once literary: now low or vulgar).—1. A woman (orig.) who spread (q.v.) for hire; in modern use, a harlot, strumpet, adulteress, or fornicatress: see Tart. Hence (2) a generic term of abuse: of a woman, chaste or unchaste: cf. bloody, bugger, fucking, and similar expletives. Also whore's-bird (whoreson; whorecop) = (1) bastard, and (2) a generic reproach); and numerous combinations.

1275. Genesis and Exodus [E.E.T.S.], 4072. The mestres of thise hore-man The bidde ic hangen that he ben.

1280. Ancren Riwle, 316. Ich am a ful stod mere, a stinckinde hore [I am a foul stud mare, a stinking whore].

c. 1401. Townley Mysteries, 'Juditium.' Alle harlottes and horres And bawdes that procures, To bryng them to lures, Welcom to my See.

1440. Prompt. Parvulorum, s.v. Hore, woman, Meretrix. Ibid., s.v. Horel, or bullowre, Fornicator leno mechus.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, iv. 4. Well said; a merry whoreson, ha! Ibid. (1596), Hamlet, v. 2. 64. He that hath kill'd my King and whored my mother. Ibid. (1598), 2 Henry IV., iii. 2. 193. A whoreson cold, sir, a cough, sir. Ibid. (1602), Othello, v. 1. 116. This is the fruit of whoring. Ibid. (1602), Troilus and Cressida, ii. 3. A whoreson dog that shall patter thus with us. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., v. 1. 521. Do not marry me to a whore.

1602. Marston, Antonio and Mellida, i. iv. 1. Your whorish love, your drunken healths, your bouts and shouts.

1607. Dekker, Northward Hoe, ii. 2. The whoreson rich innkeeper of Doncaster, her father, shewed himself a rank ostler to send her up at this time a year, and by the carrier too.

1610. Fletcher. Maid's Tragedy, v. Thou keptst me brave at Court, and whor'd me, Then married me.