strop

[ strop ]
See synonyms for: stropstroppedstropping on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. any of several devices for sharpening razors, especially a strip of leather or other flexible material.

  2. Also strap. Nautical, Machinery.

    • a rope or a band of metal surrounding and supporting a block, deadeye, etc.

    • a metal band surrounding the pulley of a block to transmit the load on the pulley to its hook or shackle.

    • a rope sling, as for handling cargo.

    • a ring or grommet of rope.

verb (used with object),stropped, strop·ping.
  1. to sharpen on or as if on a strop.

Origin of strop

1
before 1050; Middle English (noun), Old English; cognate with Dutch, Low German strop; all probably <Latin stroppus, variant of struppus strap

Other words from strop

  • stropper, noun

Words Nearby strop

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use strop in a sentence

  • There are attacks that may be cured by the razor-strop or a bucket of cold water, but these are exceptional.

  • The 'Egeria,' schooner, was disabled very early in the race by the carrying away of the iron strop round her boom.

    Yachting Vol. 2 | Various.
  • "Be sure and don't cut my head off," murmured the orphan, as he watched the razor flashing to and fro along the strop.

  • Then I was turned out again, and if I failed again I got still more ‘strop,’ and went to bed without any supper.

    Aletta | Bertram Mitford
  • They gave him an old razor, some soap and a strop, also a small brush, and he was ready for work.

    Into the Jaws of Death | Jack O'Brien

British Dictionary definitions for strop

strop

/ (strɒp) /


noun
  1. a leather strap or an abrasive strip for sharpening razors

  2. a rope or metal band around a block or deadeye for support

  1. mainly British informal a temper tantrum: he threw a strop and stormed off

verbstrops, stropping or stropped
  1. (tr) to sharpen (a razor, etc) on a strop

Origin of strop

1
C14 (in nautical use: a strip of rope): via Middle Low German or Middle Dutch strop, ultimately from Latin stroppus, from Greek strophos cord; see strophe

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012