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rope

noun, verb — 24 senses

rope

noun

UK /ɹəʊp/ · US /ɹoʊp/

Etymology

From Middle English rop, rope, from Old English rāp (“rope, cord, cable”), from Proto-West Germanic *raip, from Proto-Germanic *raipaz, *raipą (“rope, cord, band, ringlet”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁roypnós (“strap, band, rope”), from *h₁reyp- (“to peel off, tear; border, edge, strip”). Cognates Cognate with Scots rape, raip (“rope”), Saterland Frisian Roop (“rope”), West Frisian reap (“rope, cord”), Dutch roop, reep (“rope, cord, ring, strip, bar”), German Low German Reep (“rope”), German Reif (“ring, hoop”), Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish rep (“rope”), Faroese and Norwegian Nynorsk reip (“rope”), Danish reb (“rope”), Icelandic reipi (“rope”), Albanian rrip (“belt, rope”).

17 senses
  1. 1Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or…
  2. 2An individual length of such material.
  3. 3A cohesive strand of something.
  4. 4A continuous stream.
  5. 5A hard line drive.
  6. 6A long thin segment of soft clay, either extruded or…
  7. 7A data structure resembling a string, using a…
  8. 8A kind of chaff (material dropped to interfere with…
  9. 9A unit of distance equivalent to the distance covered in…
  10. 10A necklace of at least one meter in length.
  11. 11Cordage of at least one inch in diameter, or a length of…
  12. 12A unit of length equal to twenty feet.
  13. 13Rohypnol.
  14. 14Semen being ejaculated.
  15. 15Death by hanging.
  16. 16An apparatus, currently with limited use by the senior…
  17. 17An apparatus program with a rope.
1

Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line.

  • Nylon rope is usually stronger than similar rope made of plant fibers.
2

An individual length of such material.

  • The swinging bridge is constructed of 40 logs and 30 ropes.
  • All at once, let’s heave on the rope!
3

A cohesive strand of something.

  • The duchess wore a rope of pearls to the soirée.
  • Jimmy began to scream and ropes of spit shot from his mouth.2003, Dennis Lehane, Mystic River, →ISBN, page 138:
4

Dated A continuous stream.

  • The principle of any such device should be to pull on the vessel by a rope of water passing in at the bow and out at the stern.1852, John Bourne, A Treatise on the Screw Propeller: With Various Suggestions of Improvement, page 38:
5

Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports A hard line drive.

  • He hit a rope past third and into the corner.
6

Ceramics, Chemistry, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A long thin segment of soft clay, either extruded or formed by hand.

7

Computer, Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Science, Sciences A data structure resembling a string, using a concatenation tree in which each leaf represents a character.

8

Government, Military, Politics, War A kind of chaff (material dropped to interfere with radar) consisting of foil strips with paper chutes attached.

9

Jainism A unit of distance equivalent to the distance covered in six months by a god flying at ten million miles per second.

  • The central strip of the loka, the Middle World, represents its smallest area, being only one rope wide and one hundred thousand leagues high, […]2001, “Review of Metaphysical Teaching”, in Nagendra Kr. Singh, editor, Encyclopaedia of Jainism, →ISBN, page 7522:
10

Jewelry, Lifestyle A necklace of at least one meter in length.

11

Nautical, Transport Cordage of at least one inch in diameter, or a length of such cordage.

12

Archaic A unit of length equal to twenty feet.

13

Slang Rohypnol.

14

Plural normally, Slang Semen being ejaculated.

  • shooting ropes
15

With definite article Death by hanging.

  • The murderer was sentenced to the rope.
16

An apparatus, currently with limited use by the senior contestants and not used in world-wide tournaments.

Rhythmic gymnastics

17

Metonymically An apparatus program with a rope.

Rhythmic gymnastics

Derived terms
179 termsbattle rope, bell rope, boatrope, bolt rope, bolt-rope, breastrope, bull rope, bungee rope, bungy rope, buoy rope, bushrope, cable-laid rope, catch rope, catch-rope, Chinese jump rope, Chinese ropes, coyote's rope, crack-rope, dance on a rope, day of the rope, dead man's rope, dead-rope, devil's rope, dog rope, drag-rope, drag rope, fast rope, flat rope, footrope, frozen rope, gift rope, give one enough rope, give someone enough rope, give someone enough rope and they'll hang themself, glass-rope, goat rope, goat-rope, guest rope, guide rope, guy rope, handrope, hawser-laid rope, headrope, hide-rope, hobble rope, hobblerope, hobble-rope, Indian rope trick, jump rope, know the ropes, laid rope, learn the ropes, leg rope, Manila rope, manrope, mastrope, money for old rope, nope rope, on the high rope, on the high ropes, on the ropes, outrope, picket rope, piss up a rope, prayer rope, push rope, raft-rope, ridge rope, ridgerope, rope and choke, ropeband, rope-band, ropebark, rope bed, rope bridge, rope bunny, rope burn, rope clamp, rope dance, rope dancer, rope-dancer, ropedancing, rope-dancing, rope dart, rope drilling, rope-end, ropefish, ropefuel, ropefull, rope grass, ropehead, ropeheaded, rope-house, rope-jump, rope kiss, rope ladder, ropeless, ropelike, rope-like, rope line, ropeline, ropeloft, rope machine, rope-maker, ropemaker, ropemaking, ropeman, ropemanship, ropemate, ropemaxx, Rope Monday, rope of sand, rope out, rope-over, rope porter, rope pulling, rope pump, rope railway, rope-ripe, rope runner, ropery, ropes course, Ropes Crossing, rope's end, rope-sick, ropesman, rope stitch, rope swing, ropeswing, rope-tide, rope tornado, rope tow, rope trick, rope twist, rope up, ropewalker, ropewalking, ropewalk, rope-walk, rope wall, ropeway, rope-way, rope winch, ropeworker, ropework, rope-work, rope worm, rope-worthy, rope-yard, rope yarn, ropey, ropy, ropish, shoot a rope, show one the ropes, skipping rope, skip rope, slack-rope, stirrup, stretch rope, teach one the ropes, the end of one's rope, throw someone a rope, tight-rope, tightrope, tight rope, top-rope, top rope, tow rope, towrope, trail rope, twopenny rope, unrope, wainrope, wine rope, wire rope, yard-rope, yard rope, you'd complain if you were hung with a new rope

rope

verb

Etymology From Middle English ropen, rope (“to form ropes”), from rop (“rope”); see above.

1

To tie (something) with rope.

  • The robber roped the victims.
2

To throw a rope (or something similar, e.g. a lasso, cable, wire, etc.) around (something).

  • The cowboy roped the calf.
3

To climb by means of a rope or ropes.

  • We roped down to the platform selected for the bivouac; set up our bags and brewed a reasonable meal.1984, G. F. Dutton, The Ridiculous Mountains, page 153:
4

To be formed into rope; to draw out or extend into a filament or thread.

  • Let us not hang like roping icicles / Upon our houses' thatch.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:
5

To pull or restrain (the horse one is riding) to prevent it from winning a race.

  • Others, a shade more advanced, have been known to bribe a jockey to "hold," "rope" a horse, or a stableman to poison or stupefy him.1882, Edwin Sharpe Grew, Baden Fletcher Smyth Baden-Powell, Arthur Cowper Ranyard, Knowledge...: A Monthly Record of Science (volume 1, page 132)
6

Internet To commit suicide, particularly by hanging.

  • My life is a mess; I might as well rope.
  • In figure 71, the poster Brahcel notes that he “almost roped” because he could not find the community […]2019, Julia Rose DeCook, anonymous quotee, “Curating the Future: The Sustainability Practices of Online Hate Groups”, in Michigan State University, archived from the original on 05 Sep 2021, page 153:
2 more examples
  • ToxicAlcoholSyndrome explains that his, “dreams are all really depressing and vivid, so… I’m constantly in a bad mood and know in the back of my brain, I need to rope.”2020 April 26, Joshua A. Segalewitz, “'You Don't Understand... It's Not About Virginity': Sexual Markets, Identity Construction, and Violent Masculinity on an Incel Forum Board”, in University of Dayton, archived from the original on 13 Aug 2023, page 36:
  • Another man wrote that the only reason he hasn't “roped” (incel terminology for death by suicide) is he didn't want to ruin his family's Christmas.2021, Laura Bates, From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How it Affects Us All, unnumbered page:
Synonyms
tie, bind, secure, lasso, ropemaxx
Derived terms
ropable, ropeable, rope-a-dope, roped, rope in, rope into, rope off, roper, rope together

rope

noun

Etymology From Middle English rop (“gut, intestine”), from Old English rop, ropp; compare Middle Dutch rop, roppe (“fish guts”). The modern pronunciation results from phonological assimilation to Etymology 1.

1

In plural The small intestines.

  • the ropes of birds

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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