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strop

noun, verb — 7 senses

strop

noun

UK /stɹɒp/ · US /stɹɑp/

Etymology Same as strap (which see); recorded in English since 1702. The verb sense referring to honing a sharp edge is recorded since 1842.

1

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.

  • Cheap razors are a mistake, as they soon lose their edge. A good razor requires no strop. It has been suggested as an excellent plan to have a case of seven razors—one for each day in the week—so that they are all equally used.1876, Eliza Bisbee Duffey, Our Behaviour: A Manual of Etiquette and Dress of the Best American Society, Philadelphia:
2

Nautical, Transport A piece of rope spliced into a circular wreath, and put round a block for hanging it.

Derived terms
razor strop

strop

verb

Etymology Same as strap (which see); recorded in English since 1702. The verb sense referring to honing a sharp edge is recorded since 1842.

1

To hone (a razor or knife) with a strop.

  • One should strop the razor before each shave.
  • The barber—a round, bustling fellow—stropped his razor and prattled gossip.1891, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 1, in The Blue Pavilions:
2

Obsolete To strap.

strop

noun

Etymology Back-formation from stroppy.

1

Commonwealth, Ireland, UK A bad mood or temper. A tantrum.

Synonyms
huff
Derived terms
strop off

strop

verb

Etymology 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.

1

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences 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.

strop

noun
1

Slang A poor-quality or unsaleable diamond.

  • […] he almost fell out of the phone booth laughing and said to her, 'Boy, did my son buy a strop! Did he get stuck!'2005, Renée Rose Shield, Diamond Stories: Enduring Change on 47th Street, page 156:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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