Q: "pimpon", 1702?

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Joel S. Berson wrote:
> ....
> In the published transcript of a Plymouth, Mass., court case of 1702, I read:
>
> Otis ... Rose up out of his seat and said ... you are a pimpon Rogue
> and if you were not a Grandjury man I would Hit you a slap in the chaps ...
>
> What is "pimpon"?
--

I would guess it is "pimping", which I think at the time could be
understood either (1) as an adjective = "contemptibly petty" or so, or
(2) as a participle referring to the action of a pimp.

An instance of "pimpin", used by poet Allan Ramsay, ca. 1725, glossed
[later, I suppose] as "pimping"/"mean"/"scurvy" can be found at G-books.

-- Doug Wilson

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