Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An agitation of the surface waters of the ocean, moderate in character and without uniformity.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of popple.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Indiaman bobbed up and down on it in the cold morning; you could hear the wash of water poppling on to her rudder, with her running gear blown out in a bend; and Missus Collins thought they'd never get up the dirty black sides of the vessel, as she called 'em.

    The International Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 1, August 1850 of Literature, Science and Art. Various

  • Without the wood a sudden shower was falling down from heaven, drenching anew wet pastures, thinning the mud upon brown lanes, poppling upon the washed highway.

    Anthony Lyveden Dornford Yates 1922

  • The sound of waters filled the air, dropping, poppling, splashing, trickling, dripping from leaves to earth, falling from bank to rills below, gurgling under gate-paths, lapping against the tree-trunks and little ridge piles in the brooks, and at last sweeping with a hushed content into the bosom of Thames.

    The Naturalist on the Thames 1882

  • When the light wind struck across the surface of the river it seemed as if the water were pelted with falling jewels; the osiers bowed and sighed as the breeze ran along their tops; and, here and there, a spirt of shaken dewdrops described a flashing arc, and fell poppling into the stream.

    The Chequers Being the Natural History of a Public-House, Set Forth in a Loafer's Diary James Runciman 1871

  • Tolbooth --- ay, they will hae a merry sail ower Inchkeith, and ower a 'the bits o' bonny waves that are poppling and plashing against the rocks in the gowden glimmer o 'the moon, ye ken.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian 1822

  • I've sate under it mony a bonnie summer afternoon, when it hung its gay garlands ower the poppling water.

    Guy Mannering, Or, the Astrologer — Volume 02 Walter Scott 1801

  • I've sate under it mony a bonnie summer afternoon, when it hung its gay garlands ower the poppling water.

    Guy Mannering — Complete Walter Scott 1801

  • I've sate under it mony a bonnie summer afternoon, when it hung its gay garlands ower the poppling water.

    Guy Mannering, Or, the Astrologer — Complete Walter Scott 1801

  • Indeed, considering that they had set out fatigued, and had now been sixteen hours out of the eighteen since they left the ship, pulling in a poppling sea, it was no wonder that their strength and spirits should be worn out for want of sleep and refreshments.

    A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 Robert Kerr 1784

  • —it’s but a blackened rotten stump now—I’ve sat under it mony a bonnie summer afternoon, when it hung its gay garlands ower the poppling water—I’ve sat there, and’ (elevating her voice) ‘I’ve held you on my knee, Henry Bertram, and sung ye sangs of the auld barons and their bloody wars—It will ne’er be green again, and Meg Merrilies will never sing sangs mair, be they blithe or sad.

    Chapter LIII 1917

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