dope

plural dopes

1. uncountableAny viscous liquid or paste, such as a lubricant, used in preparing a surface.

   Use a good pipe dope on the NPT threads. When applying pipe dope do not put any on the first two threads from the end. Always put dope on the male thread—never on the female thread.

   1977, Robert O. Parmley, Standard Handbook of Fastening and Joining, New York: McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 247

2. uncountableAn absorbent material used to hold a liquid.
3. uncountableaeronauticsAny varnish used to coat a part, such as an airplane wing or a hot-air balloon in order to waterproof, strengthen, etc.
4. slanguncountableAny of various recreational substances

   Do you remember me? / How we used to be / Helpless and happy and blind? / Sunk without hope / In a haze of good dope / And cheap wine?

   1968, Roger Waters, “Incarceration Of A Flower Child”, performed by Marianne Faithfull, published 1999

5. Any of various recreational substances:
   1. countableslanguncountableAn opiate, now particularly heroin.First known use late 19th c.

      Here's a cure for all your troubles / Here's an end to all distress / It's the old dope peddler / With his powdered happiness

      1953, Tom Lehrer, “The Old Dope Peddler”, in Songs by Tom Lehrer, Pantheon, published 1981, page 18

      4 more examples

      If you are at all bright, don't be a grind. Grinding may make a second-hand genius of you (for all the real things are dead), and if you become a genius you will be sure to smoke dope or swallow laudanum. They all did it.

      1900, “Gifford Arthur Nelson”, in The Naughty-Naughtian, page 118

      But she went her way. Not until she accompanied a girl to an opium joint to discover whether dope had the merits claimed for it as a deadener of pain and a producer of happiness—not until then did Freddie come in person.

      a. 1911, David Graham Phillips, Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise

      Riccio nodded toward a boy across the floor and said, “See that kid? He’s on dope.” The boy was standing against a wall, staring vacantly at the dancers, his face fixed in a gentle, faraway smile. Every few seconds, he would wipe his nose with the back of his hand. “Man, that Jo-Jo!” Benny said. “He’s stoned all the time.” “What’s he on—horse?” Riccio asked, meaning heroin. “Who knows with that creep?” Benny said. I asked Benny if any special kind of boy went in for dope. “The creeps,” he said. “You know, the goofballs.” He searched for a word. “The weak kids. Like Jo-Jo. There ain’t nothing the guys can’t do to him. Last week, we took his pants off and made him run right in the middle of the street without them.”

      1957 September 13, Walter Bernstein, “The Cherubs Are Rumbling”, in The New Yorker, archived from the original on 18 Feb 2024

      We watched as he got his works and squirted water out first, then stuck the tip of the needle into the dope and sucked it up before finding a vein and sticking it into his arm.

      2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 50

   2. countableslanguncountableMarijuana.

      (Senator): Well good! Good! This is a fine batch of corn you have! (Farmer): 'Taint corn. It's dope.

      1981 September 26, Berkeley Breathed, Bloom County (comic)

      3 more examples

      Some people say that dope kills brain cells, but I can't figure out how they found that out. I mean, how do you tell if a brain cell is dead and how do you tell what killed it? I've probably wasted a lot more brain cells through booze than through dope.

      1983 March 28, “Smokin'”, in The Breeze, James Madison University, Readers' Forum, page 19

      She had gotten pregnant while stoned, had undoubtedly decided to marry Roger Finney while stoned, and Peter knew for a fact that she had left Reed (carrying a one-point-forget-it grade average) because there was too much dope floating around and she just couldn’t say no to it.

      1996, Stephen King, Desperation

      At a suburban station, there were kids hanging around smoking dope, as ticketless entry through the exit doors is easy for them.

      2024 May 29, Christian Wolmar, “The good and bad sides of the Parisian Metro”, in RAIL, number 1010, page 44

6. slanguncountableInformation, usually from an inside source, originally in horse racing and other sports.First known use early 20th c.

   What's the latest dope on the stock market?

   4 more examples

   I got thru the lines and talked with the Captain and got all the Dope.^([sic])

   1917 October 25, Ernest Hemingway, “To Clarence Hemingway”, in Sandra Spanier, Robert W. Trogdon, editors, The letters of Ernest Hemingway, volume 1, Cambridge University Press, published 2011, →ISBN, page 55

   'Boss, one of them's just come in on Fifth. The Limey with the scar. Got a friend with him, but he don't seem to fit the dope on the other two.'

   1954, Ian Fleming, “Nigger Heaven”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957

   Same with Michael Moore. When the people's champ gives us the dope on corporate bosses and sweatshop kings, he never presents their greed as some kind of deplorable personal trait.

   2000 August 7, Robert Newman, “Performers of the world unite”, in The Guardian

   “Everyone seems less excited about the war here than out there. When I do get the dope on the poster situation, I will let you know.” He and Forsythe were itching to contribute to the war effort by designing recruitment posters.

   2013, Deborah Solomon, American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 198

   Synonyms: scoop

7. uncountableengineeringBallistic data on previously fired rounds, used to calculate the required hold over a target.
8. countablederogatoryslangA stupid person.

   You call that steering? We almost got killed! My fault? Yeah, step over here and say that, you stripey dope! That's right, I'm talking to you!

   1990 February 11, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic)

   2 more examples

   The reasons why this verification is made by her and not by the defendant is because he is a dope and a fat-head and hasn't sense enough to do it himself.

   1902, “The Barrister's Shakespeare”, in The Green Bag, volume XIV, page 525

   — Я превращу в пыль все товары, и все столы, и всё оборудование этой презренной лавки! — Ты с ума сошёл! — вконец возмутился Волька.— Ведь это государственное добро, старая ты балда!

   1972 [1955, 1938], Lazar Lagin, “Беспокойный вечер”, in Старик Хоттабыч [Starik Xottabyč], page 46; English translation from “A Troubled Evening”, in Faina Solasko, transl., The Old Genie Hottabych, translation of original in Russian, 1960, page 54

   Synonyms: alcatote, asshat, arsehole, asshole, bayard, berk, birdbrain, blither

9. UScountableuncountableOhioDessert topping.
10. AppalachiacountableuncountableA soft drink.

    Synonyms: soda, pop

present singular third person dopes · participle present doping · participle past doped · past doped

1. slangtransitiveTo affect with drugs.

   Cecil Winwood accepted the test. He claimed that he could dope the guards the night of the break. "Talk is cheap," said Long Bill Hodge. "What we want is the goods. Dope one of the guards to-night."

   1915, Jack London, chapter 2, in The Star Rover

   1 more example

   Now, suppose another veterinarian should come along with another medicine, named “Goine;” and that a quart of it would make a horse go twice as fast, and you should dope the horse with both medicines […]

   1929, Horatio Sawyer Earle, The Autobiography of “By Gum” Earle, page 105

   Synonyms: administer

2. transitiveTo treat with dope (lubricant, etc.).
3. transitivebusinessTo add a dopant such as arsenic to (a pure semiconductor such as silicon).

   Another way to dope semiconductors is to use materials like boron, in which each atom has one fewer valence electron than does a sillicon atom.

   2011, Cathleen Shamieh, Gordon McComb, Electronics For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 113

4. intransitivehobbiesTo use drugs; especially, to use prohibited performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in sporting competitions.

   The more experienced cyclists, who doped or used to dope, transmitted the culture of doping to the younger cyclists, teaching them doping methods and suggesting which substances to use.

   2015, Vassilis Barkoukis, Lambros Lazuras, Haralambos Tsorbatzoudis, The Psychology of Doping in Sport, Routledge, →ISBN

5. datedslangtransitiveTo judge or guess; to predict the result of.

comparative doper · superlative dopest

1. slangAmazing; cool.

   That party was dope!

   5 more examples

   The dope conceptual beauty of the Jungle Brothers is the upful spin they put on black consciousness music, showing that being pro-black can be as much about hot fun in the summertime as gearing up for the next time.

   1990, SPIN, volume 5, number 10, page 74

   I am Adolf Hitler / Commander of the Third Reich / Little known fact: / Also dope on the mic

   2010 November 10, Nice Peter, EpicLLOYD, “Darth Vader vs Hitler. Epic Rap Battles of History”, in Dave McCary, director, Youtube (Epic Rap Battles of History) (rap music, hip-hop, comedy), spoken by Adolf Hitler (Nice Peter)

   That was dope, E. That shit was dope, man!

   2015, Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, Straight Outta Compton (motion picture), spoken by Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins)

   You guys discovered a comet? That's so dope. I have a tattoo of a shooting star on my back.

   2021, Adam McKay, Don't Look Up, spoken by Riley Bina (Ariana Grande)

   Black women are dope: dope as an adjective, not as a noun or verb; dope in Black urban parlance.

   2022 October 18, Charity C. Elder, “Preface: A Black Woman’s Gaze”, in Power: The Rise of Black Women in America, New York, N.Y.: Skyhorse Publishing, →ISBN

   Synonyms: amazing, astounding, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, sensational, awesomesauce, based

plural DOPEs · alternative D.O.P.E. · alternative D. O. P. E.

1. abbreviationacronymgovernmentAcronym of data on previous engagement.