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plural neaps
The tongue or pole of a cart or other vehicle drawn by two animals. examples
not comparable
(of a tide) Low; lowest; the ebb or lowest point of a tide. examples
Designating a tide which occurs just after the first and third quarters of the moon, when there is the least difference between high tide and low tide. quotations examples
Little groups of sailors came swinging along and pushied their way noisily inside the gaudy joints. Sex everywhere: it was slopping over, a neap tide that swept the props from under the city.
1934, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer
third-person singular simple present neaps, present participle neaping, simple past and past participle neaped
(transitive) To trap (a ship) in water too shallow to move, due to the smaller tidal range occurring in a period of neap tides. quotations examples
At 8, being high water, hauld her bow close ashore, but Keept her stern afloat, because I was afraid of Neaping her, and yet it was necessary to lay the whole of her as near the ground as possible.
1770, Captain James Cook, Journal During the First Voyage Round the World, entry for 22 June 1770
(intransitive) To ooze, to sink, to subside, to tail. quotations examples
It is well known that the spring tides happen at the change and full of the moon, at which time she is conjunction with and opposition to the sun. As these retire from their conjunction, the tides neap till about three days after the first quadrature, when the tides begin again to be more and more elevated, and arrive at their maximum about the third day after the opposition.
1831, Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, volume II page 860
A neap tide. quotations examples
Both […] swam not landward, but toward the horizon. Very good luck, for they entered a neap rushing headlong toward shore and into a river beyond.
2008, Toni Morrison, A Mercy, Chatto & Windus, page 115
Alternative form of neep examples