Word of the Day: shallop

2015-07-04 00:00:00
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This word, shallopΒ is courtesy of "Calidore. A Fragment" by John Keats.

And now he turns a jutting point of land,
Whence may be seen the castle gloomy, and grand:
Nor will a bee buzz round two swelling peaches,
Before the point of his light shallop reaches
Those marble steps that through the water dip:
Now over them he goes with hasty trip,
And scarcely stays to ope the folding doors:
Anon he leaps along the oaken floors
Of halls and corridors.

According to Wiktionary, shallopΒ is an archaic word for one of two things: either "A type of large boat; a sloop" or "A small boat, a dinghy." Isn't it spectacular when a word can mean two opposing things? In this case, it's clear what the word meant from context: Calidore had previously been said to be traveling in a "little boat." Fortunate indeed that there was context available--I'm fairly sure I've never seen the word before.

According to COCA, shallop occurs about once in 32 million words in modern American English.