scupper
scupper Lexical Profile
scupper Game Scores & Validity
• verb
British To prevent a plan, deal, or enterprise from succeeding; to ruin or thwart.
"A sudden withdrawal of funding threatened to scupper the entire research project."
To sink a ship deliberately by making holes in its hull or opening its seacocks, often to keep it from falling into enemy hands.
"The crew received orders to scupper the damaged vessel rather than let it be captured in port."
• noun
An opening in the side wall or bulwark of a ship at deck level, or in the parapet of a building or bridge, designed to allow water to drain off.
"Heavy seawater washed across the bow and poured back into the ocean through the scuppers."
• Rhymes for scupper
Word Origin & Etymology
The noun dates to the late 15th century, likely derived from Anglo-French 'escopir' (to spit out), referring to the way water is expelled from a ship's deck. The verb sense of sinking a ship arose in late 19th-century naval slang and later broadened in British English to mean ruining a plan.