... to tie up rams, which could not be supposed to much used to handling ... having often heard for a proverb, as mad as a tup in an halter

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.key-to-steel.com/Articles/Art168.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This is the modern equivalent of smith forging where the limited force of the blacksmith has been replaced by the mechanical or steam hammer.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.steelcorp.com/term.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.

The Langley Chase Flock - explanation of tupping
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.

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.

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.

Tup

Meaning

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Verb

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