neap / nēp/ • n. (usu. neap tide) a tide just after the first or third quarters of the moon when there is the least difference between high and low water.• v. (be neaped) (of a boat) be kept aground or in harbor by a neap tide. ∎  [intr.] archaic (of a tide) tend toward or reach the highest point of a neap tide.

neap applied to tides at which high-water level is at its lowest. OE. nēp in nēpflōd, then not recorded till XV; of unkn. orig.