‖loop, verb intransitive

/lʊəp//ləʊp/
Forms:
loope, lopeShow more Also loope, lope, loup.
Origin:
Afrikaans, South African Dutch, DutchShow more Afrikaans, earlier South African Dutch from Dutch, imperative of lopen to walk.
1. In the imperative.
a. Obsolete except in historical contexts trek verb sense 1 a.
1822 W.J. Burchell Trav. I. 169Phillip mounted his seat, and taking in his hand the great whip..made the street echo with one of his loudest claps at the same moment, with an animated voice, calling out to the oxen, Loop!
1841 B. Shaw Memorials 121Having, with difficulty, got Mrs. Shaw and the children into the wagon, I immediately cried, — ‘Trek, trek, — Loop, loop,’ and the oxen set off at full speed.
1876 T. Stubbs Reminiscences. 20He had noticed on the road from the Bay the Boers called out Trek, Trek lope.
1927 W. Plomer I Speak of Afr. 40‘Loop!’ he ordered in a loud voice. Shilling cracked his whip and shouted to the oxen.
1937 F.B. Young They Seek a Country 162‘Trek, you lazy troop of mares!’ (The long lash curled in the air like a salmon cast and stung the off-leader’s muzzle.) ‘Loop, you devils, loop!’
1939 S. Cloete Watch for Dawn 33First..came the clap of whips..then the cries of his drivers...Now he could distinguish the names of the oxen as his boys called to them...Loop..Loo-oop, you duiwels!
b. Go away, ‘push off’, ‘get lost’. Cf. voetsak sense 1 a.
1829 C. Rose Four Yrs in Sn Afr. 173He..repeated again and again, amber — get on, and then went to the extent of his Dutch in loup, bearing the same meaning.
1888 Cape Punch 25 Apr. 43Go, Voila, Loop, and English learn, Man with the horrid name! And when that is accomplished quite You then my hand may claim.
[1913 J.J. Doke Secret City 238‘Mynheer looks ten years younger today!’ Goed zo!...‘Johannes’, said his sister severely, ‘hush! you make a noise like a mule. Loop maar!’]
1969 A. Fugard Boesman & Lena 9Then they found our place there in the bush. Loop Hotnot! So Hotnot loops...to Swartkops.
1979 Daily Dispatch 23 May 11So he had to leave the chamber...‘Loop, loop’ cried Nationalist members.
2. To leave; to go; to walk or run.
1838 J.E. Alexander Exped. into Int. I. 11I was furiously assailed by dogs and the shrill voice of an old woman, intimating that the master was not at home, and desiring me also to ‘loop’, or take myself off.
1876 T. Stubbs Reminiscences. 103One of the caffers had taken a shawl out of the wagon, put it round Mrs Mahoney’s shoulders and told her to lope.
1882 C. Du Val With Show through Sn Afr. I. 77His gun in one hand, and his bay’net in the other, chargin’ the kopje, and the Boers ‘loopin’ before him.
1897 ‘F. Macnab’ On Veldt & Farm 123The Baralong never hesitated to cut his slave with the waggon-whip indicating thereby to which side he wished him to ‘loope’.
1910 ‘R. Dehan’ Dop Doctor 303If any of mine have hung back when I told them to loop and do a thing..did I fail to whack them as a mother should?
1910 ‘R. Dehan’ Dop Doctor 305Boys can’t loop about without breeches.
1963 L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 105When he says he is ‘looping’ away from a ‘bottle and stopper’ or from a ‘copper’ he means he is running away from a policeman.
1976 S. Cloete Chetoko 54‘Ja, my friend,’ he said ‘you are a Boer horse again. A free horse, with less food but all Africa in which to loop.’
Go away, ‘push off’, ‘get lost’.
To leave; to go; to walk or run.
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idiomatic
obsolete or obsolescent
long-ziekte, nounn.looper, nounn.
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