tippet (tipet)

[Formerly also tippit; tippet (cf. tæpped, tapestry, carpet, tæppe, a fillet, band), Biforn hire wolde he go With his typet ybounde about his heed. Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 33. The tippet , or circlet of cloth surrounding the crown [of Richard II.], hung loosely on one side of the head. Richard I.. wears a furred tippet round his shoulders. Fairholt , Costume, I. 177. 2. A cape or muffler, usually covering the shoulders or coming, at most, half-way to the elbow, but longer in front; especially, such a garment when made of fur; in modern use, any covering for the neck, or the neck and shoulders, with hanging ends, especially a woolen muffler tied about the neck. Fur tippets still form part of the official costume of English judges. They ask for a Muff and Tippit of the best Seal Fur from five to Six pounds and Upwards, which at most doth not Consume more than two good Skins. Quoted in N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 445. tipple She wore a small sable tippet , which reached just to her shoulders. George Eliot, Mill on the Flo , i. 7. 3. In the Ch. of Eng ., a kind of cape worn by literates (non-graduates), of stuff, and instead of the hood, and by graduates, beneficed clergy, and dignitaries, of silk, at times when they do not wear the hood.-4t. A hood of chain-mail: used sometimes for camail .-5. A length of twisted hair or gut in a fishing-line.-6. A bundle of straw bound together at one end, used in thatching. [Scotch.]-7. In ornith., bird's head or neck, a ruff or ruffles Couest a a formation of long or downy feathers 8. In entom., one of the patagia, or pieces attached to the sides of the pronotum, of a moth: so called because they are generally covered with soft, plumy scales, thus resembling tippets. Also shoulder - tippet.- Hempen tippet, a hangman's rope. When the hangman had put on his hempen tippet , he made such haste to his prayers as if he had had another cure to serve. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 4. St. John stone's tippet, a hangman's rope; a halter for execution: said to be named from the wearing of halters about their necks by Protestant insurgents of Perth (formerly also called St. John's Town, St. John stone ) in the beginning of the Reformation, in token of their willingne to be hanged if they flinched. [Scotch.] I'll hae to tak the hills wi' the wild whigs, as they ca' them, and then it will be my lot.. to be sent to Heaven wi' a Saint John stone's tippit about my hause. Scott , Old Mortality, vii. To turn tippett, to turn one's coat - that is, make a complete change in one's course or condition. Compare turncoat. One that for a face Would put down Vesta, in whose looks doth swim The very sweetest cream of modesty - You to turn tippet! B. Jonson , Case is Altered, iii. 3. Tyburn tippett, a hangman's halter. He should have had a Tyburn tippet, a half-penny halter, and all such proud prelates. Latimer , 2d Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1549.