gowpen

English

A gowpen.

Alternative forms

• gowpin

Etymology

From Old Norse gaupn (“hollow made by cupped hands”). Doublet of yepsen.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡaʊpən/

Noun

gowpen (plural gowpens)

1. (chiefly Scotland) A bowl made of the two hands cupped together.
   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 313:

     it was ordered by Marina, who had it framed and set up in her bedroom next to a picture of her brother at twelve or fourteen clad in a bayronka (open shirt) and cupping a guinea pig in his gowpen (hollowed hands) […]

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: kahmalo (fi)
• German: Händeschale f
• Polish: garstka (pl) f