terp

See also: Tērp

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /tɝp/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tɜːp/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)p

Etymology 1

Short for interpreter.

Noun

terp (plural terps)

1. (military or Deaf slang) An interpreter (translator).
   • 1994 September 15, Tom Lyczko, “Comments on ASL Interpreter Position Description”, in DEAF-L mailing list‎^[1], message-ID <Pine.3.89.9409151534.A19989-0100000@gamera.syr.edu>:

     I don't think it's at all appropriate to hire a terp to review your correspondences, reports, grammar, tone, style, etc. It is completely YOUR responsibility to perform effective written communication tasks.

   • 2003 November 27, Paul Watson, “Losing Its Few Good Men”, in Los Angeles Times:

     But for troops in the new Afghan army, there is a particular irritant: Afghan interpreters working with U.S. soldiers — called terps by troops in the field — can earn more than an Afghan army officer.

2. (computing, slang) An interpreter (program that parses and executes another program).
   • 2001 July 23, Fillmore, “Z-Machine terp”, in rec.arts.int-fiction, Usenet‎^[2], message-ID <6j177.12538$Iz3.3461071@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com>:

     So, I'm writing a Z-Machine terp. It is not done. It's getting there. Now, I have some ideas of things I would like this terp to do, but I thought it might be a nice idea to find out if there are any features that other people on this newsgroup would like in a Z-Machine terp.

   • 2009 September 15, Dannii, “IF System Idea”, in rec.arts.int-fiction, Usenet‎^[3], message-ID <15cd3135-0302-421e-be03-d40a5dbb1645@m7g2000prd.googlegroups.com>:

     As far as I know all the TADS terps are just ports of the original.

Etymology 2

Short for terpene.

Noun

terp (plural terps)

1. Any of various essential oils containing monoterpene alcohols which are added to a henna mix to darken the color.

Verb

terp (third-person singular simple present terps, present participle terping, simple past and past participle terped)

1. (transitive) To add such an essential oil to (a henna mix).

Etymology 3

See #Dutch

Further reading

• Terp (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• -pter, PERT, pert, pret.

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from West Frisian terp, from Old Frisian therp, from Proto-Germanic *þurpą, *þrepą (“village, farmstead, troop”), from Proto-Indo-European *treb- (“dwelling, room”). Doublet of dorp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛrp/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: terp
• Rhymes: -ɛrp

Noun

terp m (plural terpen, diminutive terpje n)

1. artificial mound or hillock used as shelter during high tide

Synonyms

• wierde

Derived terms

• Terpstra

Anagrams

• pret, rept

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West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian thorp, therp, from Proto-Germanic *þurpą, *þrepą (“village, farmstead, troop”), from Proto-Indo-European *treb- (“dwelling, room”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛrp/

Noun

terp c (plural terpen, diminutive terpke)

1. artificial mound or hillock used as shelter during high tide
2. (archaic) village

   Synonym: doarp

Derived terms

• Terpstra

Descendants

• → Dutch: terp

Further reading

• “terp”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011