scupper

play

noun scup·per \ˈskə-pər\

Definition of scupper

1 : an opening cut through the bulwarks of a ship so that water falling on deck may flow overboard
2 : an opening in the wall of a building through which water can drain from a floor or flat roof

See scupper defined for English-language learners

See scupper defined for kids

scupper was our Word of the Day on 09/12/2015. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of scupper from the Web

The towering Dupont Circle fountain is tilting, its huge top basin inching off-kilter and slowly spoiling the flow from its three scuppers.

— steve hendrix, Washington Post, "Where’s the water? In the nation’s capital, dry fountains mar the landscape.," 9 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'scupper.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of scupper

Middle English skopper- (in compounds), perhaps from Anglo-French *escopoir, from escopir to spit out

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

See Words from the same year

scupper

verb scup·per

Definition of scupper

British

transitive verb
: to defeat or put an end to : do in 1a

See scupper defined for English-language learners

Examples of scupper in a Sentence

The latest information could scupper the peace talks.

Recent Examples of scupper from the Web

The Everton contract rebel has been touted with moving to the capital this summer as interest from Spurs supposedly gathers pace, but any deal to take him to north London has already been scuppered by the Toffees' alleged £50m asking price.

— SI.com, "Spurs Left Reeling Over Everton Contract Rebel's £150k-a-Week Wage Demands," 16 July 2017
One more vote would have scuppered DeVos’s nomination, and in the days running up to the final decision voters lobbied their senators with phone calls, letters, e-mails, and Twitter pleas.

— rebecca mead, The New Yorker, "The Betsy DeVos Confirmation Debacle," 7 Feb. 2017

scupper Has Military Origins

All efforts to figure out where this verb came from have been defeated, including attempts to connect it to the noun scupper, a 500-year-old word for a drain opening in the side of a ship. (One conjecture, that the blood of shipboard battle was "scuppered" when it was washed down the scuppers, unfortunately lacks backing in the form of any actual evidence of the verb used this way.) All we know for sure is that scupper meant "to ambush and massacre" in 19th-century military slang. Then, just before the century turned, it found its place in a magazine story in the sense of simply "doing (someone) in." The more common modern application to things rather than people being done in or defeated didn't appear until a couple of decades into the 20th century.