Noun

1. A male sheep, a ram.
2. The head of a hammer, and particularly of a steam-driven hammer.
   • "Those familiar with drop forging are accustomed to sizing drop hammers as 1 ton or 5 ton or whatever. This measure of the size is simply the weight of the tup. The total weight of the helve of No 2 is about 6.4 tons." http://www.topforge.co.uk/Magazines/Hammer2.htm
   • "This is the modern equivalent of smith forging where the limited force of the blacksmith has been replaced by the mechanical or steam hammer. The process can be carried out by open forging where the hammer is replaced by a tup and the metal is manipulated manually on an anvil." http://www.key-to-steel.com/Articles/Art168.htm
   • Rockwell hardness test: A method of measuring hardness. The hardness is expressed as a number related to the depth of the residual penetration. A test for determining the hardness of a material based on the depth of penetration of a specified penetrator in to the specimen under certain arbitrarily fixed condition of test. A hardness test where the loss in kinetic energy of a falling diamond tipped metal 'tup', absorbed by indentation upon impact of the tup on the metal being tested is indicated by the height of rebound.http://www.steelcorp.com/term.htm

Verb

1. To mate; used of a ram mating with a ewe.
   • "Tupping is the term used for when the rams cover the ewes. For our flock, this takes place in November when the ewes naturally come into season." The Langley Chase Flock - explanation of tupping
2. To have sex with, to bonk, etc.
   • 1603: William Shakespeare, Othello, The Moor of Venice, Act 1, Scene 1.

     "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe." - (used metaphorically in the play).

   • 2001: Simon Hawke, A Mystery of Errors http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0812564545&id=iu5CUMiNTUMC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=%22tup+her%22&sig=VIxFsnbUvckFmygYjq6Shc8r9bg

     I love her well enough to tup her, I suppose. A dangerous bit of business, that. She is as fertile as a bloody alluvial plain.

   • 2003: Pierre Delattre, Woman on the Cross http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0966861256&id=oc7an025f9MC&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=%22tup+her%22&sig=rbHJq6-MuXoPp0MAdXGJ28SIGdI

     I was the one who convinced her you would not tup her, and that if you did you would never lie with her against her will.

3. Regional English ?: To butt: said of a ram.