gowpen

English
A gowpen.

Etymology

From Old Norse gaupn (“hollow made by cupped hands”). Doublet of yepsen.

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɡaʊpən/

Noun

gowpen (plural gowpens)

  1. (chiefly Scotland) A bowl made of the two hands cupped together.
    • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 313:
      it was ordered by Marina, who had it framed and set up in her bedroom next to a picture of her brother at twelve or fourteen clad in a bayronka (open shirt) and cupping a guinea pig in his gowpen (hollowed hands) […]
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.