tapul
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A pronounced vertical ridge down the center of a breastplate, or rarely by extension a ridge on another item of armor.
name
A barangay of Paranas, Samar, Philippines.
Example Sentences
- "The convexity of the breast-plate, but more particularly its projecting tapul, […] the cone-like beevor, the pass-guards, and even the tapuls of the jambs and cuisses, are evidences of this fact."
- "Even to the time of his death (1643) the Black Mousquetaires of his house wore in the field complete armor, […] The breastplate has a ridge or "tapul" down the center with a marked projection near the lower edge."
Etymology
Unclear; perhaps originally an error: Edward Halle's ante-1547 Vnion of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies mentions "the plackard, the rest, the port, the burley, the tasses, the lamboys, the backpece, the tapull, and the border of the curace all gylte"; Meyrick and others after him have taken the term to denote the vertical ridge down the center of a breastplate, perhaps related to French taper (“hit, beat, strike”).