strop, noun1

/strɒp//strɔp/
Plurals:
strops, stroppe/strɔpə/.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, from Dutch strop noose, stropje small strap, loop, or cord.
Note:
Formerly used in British English (from Old English), but obsolete since the 18th century.
1. a. The leather strap (on a yoke) which was fastened under the throat of a draught animal; neckstrap; nekstrop. b. Any leather strap. Also stroppie [see -ie].
1846 Natal Witness 3 JulyMarket Intelligence...10 Strops, 4s. 6d.
1882 J. Nixon Among Boers 172The yoke is kept from slipping sideways by wooden stays, or ‘skeys’, which are fastened under the throat by a small ‘strop’ of hide.
1899 Natal Agric. Jrnl 31 Mar. 5Dutch words such as ‘aasvogel,’..‘ringhals,’ ‘strop,’ ‘stoep,’ ‘pas op,’ etc...We believe that we have placed on record all the agricultural words of South African Dutch now in use among English colonists at the end of the present century, and likely to retain their vitality during the next.
1900 B. Mitford Aletta 35If I returned a second time without having shot a buck I was allowed some dinner, but first of all I got plenty of ‘strop’.
1916 Farmer’s Weekly 20 Dec. 1458 (advt)For Sale, Bushbuck Skins, ready brayed for cutting voorslags, riems, strops, whips, sjamboks.
1916 Farmer’s Weekly 27 Dec. 1564We have a full stock of: Game Reims, Game Neck Strops, Game Whip Lashes, Game Voorslags, [etc.].
1920 R. Juta Tavern 12A dirty unladylike enough proceeding calculated to draw Tante Petronelle’s wrath — if not the stroppie (strap).
1925 L.D. Flemming Crop of Chaff 3A native boy is despatched hot-afoot for the oxen. Another boy oils the wheels and pours water over them to tighten up the spokes — riems and strops are hurriedly dealt out.
1947 H.C. Bosman Mafeking Rd (1969) 157As we were..without skeis we had to fasten the necks of the oxen straight on to the yokes with strops, and several of the oxen got strangled.
1963 S. Cloete Rags of Glory 404Through these holes went the skeys — pieces of hard wood notched to take the leather strops or straps that passed under the ox’s throat and were adjusted in the notches according to the size of the animal.
1970 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)He used a stroppie to mend the halter (a small piece of hide or leather).
1973 Farmer’s Weekly 13 June (Suppl.) 39 (advt)Boermaak Riems 10 ft. R5,00; cheaper quality R3,60; Strops R3,00; Agterslaags R1,35; Voorslaags 86c doz., Skeys R3,60 doz.; Skey Yokes R4,50.
1977 F.G. Butler Karoo Morning 117What’s a strop...Man, it’s a thick thong that hooks into the notches of the jukskeis under the ox’s neck. It keeps the yoke in place. Now the best skin for stroppe comes from the skin of the old aardvark — very tough.
2. combination
Strop Bill in historical contexts, a bill proposed in 1890: see quotation 1936.
1936 S.G. Millin Rhodes (1936) 227The Strop Bill was a Bill empowering magistrates, in certain master and servant cases, to impose the lash (hence ‘strop’). Not only Rhodes, but Hofmeyr, supported the Bill. The Bill did not become law.
1946 S. Cloete Afr. Portraits 281His first act as Prime Minister was to support the Strop Bill...This was a bill which would allow magistrates to impose the lash upon recalcitrant Kaffirs.
1955 D.L. Hobman Olive Schreiner 49She disapproved of his (sc. Rhodes’s) policy and her anger against him was aroused when, as Prime Minister in the Cape Parliament, he voted in favour of the ‘Strop Bill’; this measure permitted the infliction of lashes on natives for minor offences.
1980 E. Prov. Herald 13 May 3He tried to push through Parliament the Strop Bill, which allowed for flogging of black labourers.
The leather strap (on a yoke) which was fastened under the throat of a draught animal; neckstrap; nekstrop.
Any leather strap.
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18461980

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Strop Bill

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strooidak, nounn.strop, nounn.2
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