neap

Meanings

1. The tongue or pole of a cart or other vehicle drawn by two animals.

1. Low; lowest; the ebb or lowest point of a tide.
2. Designating a tide which occurs just after the first and third quarters of the moon, when there is the least difference between high tide and low tide.

1. To trap (a ship) in water too shallow to move, due to the smaller tidal range occurring in a period of neap tides.
2. To ooze, to sink, to subside, to tail.

1. A neap tide.

1. Alternative form of neep.

Etymology

Perhaps of Scandinavian origin: compare dialectal Norwegian neip (“forked pole”).