Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A strap, especially a short rope whose ends are spliced together to make a ring.
  • noun A flexible strip of leather or canvas used for sharpening a razor.
  • transitive verb To sharpen (a razor) on a strop.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as strap. Specifically
  • noun A strap or strip of leather, thick canvas, or other flexible material, suitably propared for smoothing the edge of a razor drawn over it while it is attached by one end and held in the hand by the other; hence also, by extension, a two-sided or four-sided piece of wood, with a handle and a casing, having strips of leather of differing surfaces affixed to two sides, and the two other sides, when (as more commonly) present, covered with coarser and finer emery or other abrasive powder for use in honing a razor.
  • noun Nautical, same as strap, 1 .
  • noun In rope-making, a rope with an eye at each end, used in twisting strands.
  • To sharpen on or as if on a strop or strap.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Naut.) A piece of rope spliced into a circular wreath, and put round a block for hanging it.
  • transitive verb To draw over, or rub upon, a strop with a view to sharpen.
  • noun A strap; specifically, same as strap, 3.

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

  • noun A strap; more specifically a piece of leather or a substitute (notably canvas), or strip of wood covered with a suitable material, for honing a razor, in this sense also called razor strop.
  • noun UK A bad mood or temper (see stroppy.)
  • noun nautical A piece of rope spliced into a circular wreath, and put round a block for hanging it.
  • verb obsolete To strap.
  • verb To hone (a razor) with a strop.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb sharpen on a strop
  • noun a leather strap used to sharpen razors

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English strope, band of leather, probably from Old English, thong for an oar, from Latin stroppus, twisted cord, from Greek strophos, from strephein, to turn; see streb(h)- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Same as strap (which see); recorded in English since 1702.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Ports in reverse.

    July 22, 2007

  • Also, a tantrum. Adjective stroppy.

    June 18, 2008

  • "Yes, a hat. A lion taming hat. A hat with 'lion tamer' on it. I got it at Harrods. And it lights up saying 'lion tamer' in great big neon letters, so that you can tame them after dark when they're less stroppy."

    Vocational Guidance Counselor Sketch, Monty Python

    June 19, 2008

  • "'Emma and I ... I mean Lady Hamilton and I are simply good friends. There's nothing to it, I swear.'

    'Tell her that.'

    'I try, but you know what a temper she has. I only have to mention I've been anywhere near the turn of the nineteenth century and she gets in a frightful strop.'"

    - Jasper Fforde, 'Lost In A Good Book'.

    November 24, 2008