English

Noun

winesop ‎(plural winesops)

1. A piece of bread soaked in wine; a small cake made with grapes or wine.
   • 1877, in the Saturday review of politics, literature, science and art, volume 43, page 649:

     Hence the proverb […] "to reduce one whose meal is a winesop to a dry crust."

   • 1974, Norah Lofts, Crown of aloes:

     Beatriz, for all her seeming frailty, had borne the long strain better, and presently came, offering winesops, the recognised restorative; small pieces of fine white bread soaked in wine.

   • circa 1982, John Payne, Decameron (translated from Giovanni Boccaccio's Italian):

     His wife gave her a winesop to eat and after, undressing her, put her to bed; and they contrived that night to have her and her maid carried to Florence.

   • 2006, Rae Katherine Eighmey, How creative cooks fed the soul and spirit of America's heartland, page 23:

     Winesops

     1 cup butter

     1 1.2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed

     1 cup molasses

     […]

     1 cup currants

2. (figuratively, by extension, derogatory) A drunkard, a wino.
   • 1913, Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, The ebb-tide: A trio and a quartette, page 214:

     "I'm going to give you Mr. Whish — or the winesop that remains of him," continued Attwater.

   • 2000, Stephen Lawhead, Avalon: The Return of King Arthur, page 61:

     […] "we're being maneuvered into providing a gala State funeral for that reprobate winesop."

   • 2003, Sagas of Conan, page 293:

     "Aye, he was good at skulking around and acting like a winesop or an idiot."

See also

• milksop