scupper

English

WOTD – 9 September 2009

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈskʌp.ə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈskʌp.ɚ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌpə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English scope (“scoop”) or Dutch schop (“shovel”) +‎ -er; or from Dutch scheppen (“to draw off”).

Noun

scupper (plural scuppers)

1. (nautical) A drainage hole on the deck of a ship.
2. (architecture) A similar opening in a wall or parapet that allows water to drain from a roof.
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 111:

     I have said that our roof was decidedly Biblical in style; but to make it a dry one, something of a nautical character was added to its architecture, for on either side were scuppers, and it was slightly arched in the centre[.]

Derived terms

• scupper hole
• scupper hose
• scupper nail
• scupper plug

 

Translations

nautical: drainage hole

• Bulgarian: шпигат m (špigat)
• Catalan: embornal (ca) m, dull (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 排水口

• Danish: lænseport c, spygat n
• Dutch: spuigat (nl) n
• Finnish: valumisaukko, spyygatti, nieluaukko, valumisreikä
• French: dalot (fr) m
• German: Speigat (de) n, Speigatt (de) n
• Greek: μπούνια (el) n pl (boúnia)
• Hebrew: אָבִיק (he) m (avík)
• Icelandic: spýjurenna f, lensport n
• Norman: dalot m
• Russian: шпига́т (ru) m (špigát)
• Serbo-Croatian: lakomica (sh) f
• Spanish: imbornal m
• Swedish: spygatt (sv) n

architecture: drainage hole in a wall or parapet

• Finnish: valumisaukko
• Russian: дренажное отве́рстие (ru) n (otvérstije)
• Serbo-Croatian: drenažni otvor m

Further reading

• scupper on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Of unknown origin; possibly verbized form of Etymology 1, but this is unlikely.

Verb

scupper (third-person singular simple present scuppers, present participle scuppering, simple past and past participle scuppered)

1. (transitive, UK) To thwart or destroy, especially something belonging or pertaining to another.

   Coordinate term: scuttle

   The bad media coverage scuppered his chances of being elected.

   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     ["]The only chance was to get the guns and try a rescue. Of course they may scupper them at once in revenge.["]

   • 2002 July 2, Hugo Young, “We can't allow US tantrums to scupper global justice”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     This is the face of American exceptionalism […] threatening to scupper both the court and, failing that, UN peace-keeping operations in Bosnia and anywhere else the US might have forces deployed on such work.

   • 2019 October 19, Robert Kitson, “England into World Cup semi-finals after bruising victory over Australia”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media:

     Anthony Watson’s late interception and Owen Farrell’s 100% kicking contribution also helped scupper the Wallabies, despite the promise of their exciting new centre Jordan Petaia and the roadrunner pace of winger Marika Koroibete.

   • 2020 May 20, John Crosse, “Soon to be gone... but never forgotten”, in RAIL, page 62:

     Pacers should have all been withdrawn by now, but that has been scuppered by a failure to deliver new trains on time and delays to infrastructure projects. The most high-profile withdrawals were to be Northern's Class 142s and '144s' (the latter by the end of 2018, and the '142s' by the end of last year).

Translations

thwart, destroy

• Dutch: dwarsbomen (nl), vernietigen (nl)
• Finnish: romuttaa (fi), pilata (fi), tehdä tyhjäksi
• German: zerstören (de), ruinieren (de)
• Italian: avversare (it), bruciare (it)
• Ottoman Turkish: بالطه‌لامق (baltalamak)
• Russian: губи́ть (ru) impf (gubítʹ), погубить (ru) pf (pogubitʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: potopiti (sh), torpedirati (sh)
• Swedish: torpedera (sv), stjälpa (sv), kullkasta (sv), sänka (sv), stäcka (sv), omintetgöra (sv)

References

• “scupper”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• cuppers