scupper
verb /ˈskʌpə(r)/
/ˈskʌpər/
(British English, informal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they scupper | /ˈskʌpə(r)/ /ˈskʌpər/ |
| he / she / it scuppers | /ˈskʌpəz/ /ˈskʌpərz/ |
| past simple scuppered | /ˈskʌpəd/ /ˈskʌpərd/ |
| past participle scuppered | /ˈskʌpəd/ /ˈskʌpərd/ |
| -ing form scuppering | /ˈskʌpərɪŋ/ /ˈskʌpərɪŋ/ |
- scupper something to cause somebody/something to fail synonym foil
- The residents' protests scuppered his plans for developing the land.
- Their chances of winning were scuppered by injury.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryScupper is used with these nouns as the object:- chance
- deal
- plan
- …
Word Originlate 19th cent. (as military slang in the sense ‘kill, especially in an ambush’): of unknown origin.