scupper
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
scupper1
▶noun a hole in a ship's side to allow water to run away from the deck.
– origin ME: perh. via Anglo-Norman Fr. from OFr. escopir ‘to spit’.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
scupper2
▶verb chiefly Brit.
- 1 sink (a ship) deliberately.
- 2 informal prevent from working or succeeding; thwart.
– origin C19 (as military sl. in the sense ‘kill, especially in an ambush’): of unknown origin.
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