scupper

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an opening in a ship's side, or in a building wall, through which water drains from a deck, floor, or flat roof

   Rainwater poured from the deck through the starboard scupper.

2. 2
   verb

   chiefly in British English, to defeat a plan or put an end to an undertaking

   A funding shortfall could scupper the entire restoration project.

3. 3
   verb

   in historical military slang, to ambush and kill or overwhelm

   The scouts feared that enemy fighters would scupper the isolated patrol.

The noun is from Middle English skopper, perhaps from an Anglo-French word based on escopir ("to spit out"). The unrelated verb is of unknown origin; it first appeared in nineteenth-century military slang for ambushing and killing, then broadened to defeating a plan.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
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