gowpen

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English

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A gowpen.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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gowpen (plural gowpens)

  1. (chiefly Scotland) A bowl made of the two hands cupped together.
    • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 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) []

Translations

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