duppy

• (ghost): duffy, duppie, doopy, dupie

Jamaica, circa 18th century. From Bube dupe (“ghost”)^[1][2] (compare Akan adɔpe).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʌpi/
• Rhymes: -ʌpi

duppy (plural duppies)

1. (Caribbean, Jamaica) A ghost or spirit, often appearing in the form of a dog barking or howling through the night.

   Synonyms: jumbie; see also Thesaurus:ghost

   • 1774, Edward Long, The History of Jamaica‎^[1], volume 2, page 416:

     They firmly believe in the apparition of spectres. Those of deceased friends are duppies; others, of more hostile and tremendous aspect, like our raw-head-and-bloody-bones, are called bugaboos.

   • 2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Oneworld Publications (2015), page 257:

     Then on the left me see a duppy and try to run.

2. (Jamaica, games) A drawn game of noughts and crosses (in Jamaica tii-taa-tuo).

• This term is one of the documented possible origins of Davy Jones. See more at Davy Jones' Locker on Wikipedia.

duppy (third-person singular simple present duppies, present participle duppying, simple past and past participle duppied)

1. (MLE, MTE, transitive) To kill; to murder.
   • 2008, Kingsley Ogundele, online message quoted in 2010 January 27, Rob Sharp, "CSI: Chatroom", The Independent

     He refers to his intention to kill a schoolgirl pregnant with Jolie's unborn baby – who the pair believe is giving Jolie undue hassle. "I'll get da fiend to duppy her den," he writes.

   • 2011, Alex Wheatle, The Dirty South, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 176:

     He duppied my bredren and as long as I could remember Paps was telling me not to trust the Feds.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:kill

2. (MLE, by extension, transitive) To excel in.
   • 2011, Kano, guest on Lethal Bizzle, "Pow 2011"

     I duppied every rave.

Possibly derived from Bube dupe (“ghost”)^[1] or Akan adɔpe.^[2] Compare Bajan duppy.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʌpɪ/
• Hyphenation: du‧ppy

duppy (plural duppy dem, quantified duppy) (Cassidy/JLU orthography spelling dopi)

1. ghost; an evil spirit; duppy; poltergeist (ghost)

   Yuh fraid a duppy?

   Are you afraid of ghosts?

   Di duppy dem a mash up di place.

   The poltergeists are wrecking the place.

   • 2018, “Man uses obeah to chase duppies from house”, in The Jamaica Star (in English):

     “Duppy did inna me house one time. Dem did a mek me couldn’t sleep […] ”

     Once there were poltergeists in my home. I had trouble sleeping because of them […]

• Blackheart Man
• Rolling Calf