Apparently this is a peculiarly British term, but we'll sometimes use the phrase 'slap-up' to mean 'excellent', as in:
That's a slap-up meal!
or
They held a slap-up do.
What's the origin of the term slap-up? Nothing obvious comes to mind.
This comes originally from a Dickens novel (he probably used a common expression of the time). He used the expression "Slap-bang" to indicate a cheap meal. Apparently it was "Slap-bang" because people would "bang" the money down for the meal.
answered Feb 17 '11 at 19:13
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To extend your answer: The term slap-down and bang-down were common at the time and, as you point out, the term slap-bang was a term used for a cheap eatery. This seems to have evolved over time from slap-down as a negative adjective into slap-up as a positive one (and also bang-up, as a more general form) For reasons still obscure to me slap-up is reserved for food whilst bang-up more often refers to a job well done (a bang-up job). – Andy F Feb 17 '11 at 21:07
The earliest meaning of slap up was to eat. Later it also meant to eat or drink in a hurry, and around the same time meant something exceedingly good.
Could the meaning transferred because a very good meal might be eaten quickly?
The 1898 Wit, character, folklore & customs of the North Riding of Yorkshire; with a glossary of over 4,000 words and idioms now in use defines it:
The earlier 1828 Dialect of Craven, in the westriding of the County of York has the former meaning:
This meaning to swallow is found in a 1709 French-English dictionary, a 1673 dictionary has it meaning to sustain, to support (possibly also meaning to eat) and in 1660 to lick. The swallow, eat meaning is printed in several English-French, -Danish, -Swedish, -Italian and Welsh dictionaries.
The exceedingly good meaning can be found in two 1823 slang dictionaries. Classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue by Francis Grose:
And second, in Slang by John Badcock, where bang-up is defined "quite in fashion, at the top of the mode. All right.":
The first non-dictionary use describes an exceptional boxing match in an 1821 Sporting Magazine:
The next use in prose I found is 1828's How to live in London:
gave 250 guineas for what he terms his "slap-up turnout," (i.e. handsome cabriolet, with a blood chesnut mare, 15 hands 3 inches, harness, &c.)
Some slightly later books apply slap-up to describe someone's fine clothes.
Both Partridge and Green have "slap-up" meaning "first-rate, of superior quality". The earliest reference they cite is from 1829, a little early for Dickens. The "slap-bang shop", a restaurant where one paid in advance, is earlier still (1796), cited in the Lexicon Balatronicum of 1811.
I would think that Green's earliest reference to "slap", the proceeds of a robbery, is the source of the phrase; that first appeared in 1790, apparently.
answered Feb 17 '11 at 20:44
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1@Hugo, the source cited in Green is "On the Prigging Lay", a translation of "Un jour a la Croix Rouge"; see here. – Brian Hooper Feb 7 '12 at 19:18
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According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, SLAP-UP means First Rate,Grand or Lavish. They Quote from Thackeray's "The Newcomes" - 'The more slap-up still have two shields painted on the panel with the coronet over'
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This doesn't answer the question, since the author asked for etymology of the word, not its meaning. – Vilmar May 5 '15 at 11:40
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Sorry Vilmar but I must disagree. Etymology relates to source and/or development. The Thackeray quote was, presumably, evidence of usage and thus, to it's possible origin. – Eddie Hughes May 5 '15 at 18:49
