hop

plural hops

1. A short jump.

   The frog crossed the brook in three or four hops.

2. A jump on one leg.
3. A short journey, especially in the case of air travel, one that takes place on a private plane.

   My fellow passengers are a mixture of people returning from a day out in the capital, locals doing short hops, and a few (like me) heading farther afield.

   2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68

4. figurativelyinformalA brief period of development or progress.

   For popular radio stars in New York and Los Angeles, it was a short hop to network television.

5. UShobbiesA bounce, especially from the ground, of a thrown or batted ball.
6. UKUSdatedslangA dance; a gathering for the purpose of dancing.

   1896, Benjamin Brierley, James Dronsfield, "Ab-o'th'-Yate" Sketches and Other Short Stories One singing-room we had closed, and so damaged a "twopenny hop" that it could not have survived another season had our own prosperity continued unchecked.

7. computingThe sending of a data packet from one host to an adjacent host as part of its overall journey.

present singular third person hops · participle present hopping · participle past hopped · past hopped

1. intransitiveTo jump a short distance.

   When it had advanced from the wood, it hopped much after the fashion of a kangaroo, using its hind feet and tail to propel it, and when it stood erect, it sat upon its tail.

   1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter V, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC

   Synonyms: jump, leap

2. intransitiveTo jump on one foot.
3. intransitiveTo be in state of energetic activity.

   Sorry, can't chat. Got to hop.

   1 more example

   The sudden rush of customers had everyone in the shop hopping.

4. transitiveTo suddenly take a mode of transportation that one does not drive oneself, often surreptitiously.

   He hopped a train to California.

   2 more examples

   I hopped a plane over here as soon as I heard the news.

   He was trying to hop a ride in an empty trailer headed north.

5. transitiveTo jump onto, or over

   They hop the curb and cut their engines.

   2018 February, Robert Draper, “They are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet: Technology and Our Increasing Demand for Security have Put Us All under Surveillance. Is Privacy Becoming just a Memory?”, in National Geographic, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2018

   1 more example

   As the 1857 to Manchester Piccadilly rolls in, I scan the windows and realise there are plenty of spare seats, so I hop aboard. The train is a '221'+'220' combo to allow for social distancing - a luxury on an XC train as normally you're playing sardines, so I make the most of it.

   2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68

6. in compoundsintransitiveusuallyTo move frequently from one place or situation to another similar one.

   bar-hopping

   2 more examples

   We were party-hopping all weekend.

   We had to island-hop on the weekly seaplane to get to his hideaway.

7. informalintransitiveTo go in a quick or sudden manner.

   Spangler hopped up from the control panel and stretched, pressing his hands to his lower back.

   2018, Sean Grigsby, Daughters of Forgotten Light

   3 more examples

   We hopped on the freeway heading to LA and I looked over at the dashboard and saw the needle back on “E” and I told the guy, “Hey! You going to make it with the gas you got?"

   2010, Tony Gin, My Blessed Demons, page 285

   Juliet shook her head as she hopped on the computer and greeted a customer who ambled in, blowing on her still wet nails.

   2016, A.P. Jensen, Closure

   She hopped on the computer and typed away, going back and forth between Mark's fake I.D., the deposit slip and the computer screen.

   2020, Michael Hewes, The Milk Wagon

8. informalTo dance.
9. obsoleteTo walk lame; to limp.

   The limping smith […]hopping here and there, himself a jest[…]

   a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “(please specify the title)”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC

plural hops

1. A plant of species Humulus lupulus, native to northern Europe, female flowers of which are used to flavour many types of beer during brewing.
2. plural normallyThe flowers of the hop plant, dried and used to brew beer.
3. USslangOpium, or some other narcotic drug.

   ‘You've been shot full of hop and kept under it until you're as crazy as two waltzing mice.’

   1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin, published 2010, page 177

   Synonyms: aunti/aunti Emma, big O, chandu, Chinese tobacco, dopium, dream gun, dream stick, fi-do-nie

4. The fruit of the dog rose; a hip.

present singular third person hops · participle present hopping · participle past hopped · past hopped

1. transitiveTo impregnate with hops, especially to add hops as a flavouring agent during the production of beer

   If you brew in March or October, and have hopped it for long keeping[…]

   1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC

2. intransitiveTo gather hops.

plural hops

1. InternetSynonym of half-op.

   Synonyms: half-op

plural Hops

1. A surname from Dutch.

plural Hops

1. AustraliaabbreviationellipsisslangEllipsis of John Hop (“a police officer”).

   "Police!" snarled Jack. "Bloody Johnny Hops! They couldn't hold a sucking pig in their hands, unless somebody hung on to its tail for them. It's our boys who've got things in hand. And handed them over to the Hops."

   1923, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Kangaroo, London: Martin Secker, page 356

1. Synonym of Mari (etymology 3)

   Synonyms: Mari