dewlap

English

Etymology

From Middle English dewlappe.^[1] The first element may be dew (and if not, seems to have been altered by folk etymology to resemble it); the second element is lap (“loose fabric”), Old English læppa (“a loose hanging piece”);^[2] compare jellop and jowlop (from jowl + lap), and dewclaw. Compare old Norwegian and Danish doglæp^[2] (the modern Danish word for "dew" is dug,^[3] but compare Old Norse dǫgg (“dew”) and Norwegian dogg). Old English instead terms such skin the frǣt-læppa (whence Middle English fresh-lappe).^[1]

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdu.læp/, /ˈdju.læp/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdjuː.læp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːlæp

Noun

dewlap (plural dewlaps)

1. The pendulous skin under the neck of an ox, or a similar feature on any other animal.
   • 1901 – 1902, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles

     Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame.

2. The sagging flesh on the throat of an elderly human.
   • 2017, Bernard MacLaverty, “Chapter 2”, in Midwinter Break, page 36:

     He ended up looking at himself in the mirror. His image stared back at him. He was developing a dewlap - a definite dewlap. He waggled under his chin scornfully with his fingers.

Derived terms

• dewlapped
• dewlapping
• dewlapt

 

Translations

pendulous skin under the neck of an ox, or a similar feature on any other animal

Catalan: papada (ca) f Dutch: keelhuid f Finnish: helluvainen French: fanon (fr) m Galician: gorgueira (gl) f, papo (gl) m, barbada (gl) f Georgian: ღაბაბი (ka) (ɣababi) German: Wamme (de) f, Kehlwamme f Alemannic German: Buuchlämpe m (on cattle) Greek: Ancient: λωγάνιον n (lōgánion) Haryanvi: अयाल (ayāl) Hungarian: lebeny (hu), toka (hu), lebernyeg (hu) Icelandic: hes n Irish: sprochaille f, preiceall m Italian: pappagorgia f Latin: paleāria n pl Mongolian: Cyrillic: хөх (mn) (xöx) Mongolian: ᠬᠥᠬᠦ (kökü) Nandi: lakop Norman: brueûtchet m (Jersey) Ottoman Turkish: صقاق (sakak) Polish: podgardle (pl) n, łałok (pl) m Russian: подгру́док (ru) m (podgrúdok) Scottish Gaelic: sporan m, caisean m Spanish: papo (es) m, papada (es) f Swedish: dröglapp c (on cattle) Telugu: గంగడోలు (te) (gaṅgaḍōlu) Turkish: gerdan (tr), gıdık (tr) Welsh: tagell f

sagging flesh on the throat of an elderly human — see also double chin

Catalan: papada (ca) f Finnish: kaksoisleuka (fi) Galician: papo (gl) m Hungarian: toka (hu) Irish: preiceall m Italian: pappagorgia f Ottoman Turkish: صقاق (sakak) Russian: второ́й (ru) (vtorój) подборо́док (ru) m (podboródok) Spanish: papada (es) f Turkish: gıdık (tr) Welsh: tagell f

References

1. “deu-lap(pe), n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
2. “dewlap”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present. "1350–1400; Middle English dew(e)lappe, apparently dewe dew + lappe lap¹; compare Danish dog-læp, Dutch (dial.) dauw-zwengel; literal sense is unclear"
3. This point is made by Charles Telford Carr (1939) Nominal Compounds in Germanic: “Norw. and Dan. doglæp, ME. dewlappe, dewlap. The first part of this prose compound is obscure and is possibly only secondarily connected with dew as the Norw. and Dan. for dew is dug, not dog (see Falk-Torp under doglæp and OED. under dewlap).”

Anagrams

• pawled