rope

plural ropes · alternative obsolete roap · alternative obsolete roape

1. uncountableThick 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.

   Synonyms: twine, line, cord, string

2. countableAn individual length of such material.

   All at once, let’s heave on the rope!

   1 more example

   The swinging bridge is constructed of 40 logs and 30 ropes.

3. countableuncountableA cohesive strand of something.

   The duchess wore a rope of pearls to the soirée.

   1 more example

   Jimmy began to scream and ropes of spit shot from his mouth.

   2003, Dennis Lehane, Mystic River, →ISBN, page 138

4. countabledateduncountableA 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. countableuncountableball gamesA hard line drive.

   He hit a rope past third and into the corner.

6. countableuncountableceramicsA long thin segment of soft clay, either extruded or formed by hand.
7. countableuncountablecomputerA data structure resembling a string, using a concatenation tree in which each leaf represents a character.

   Synonyms: cord

8. uncountablegovernmentA kind of chaff (material dropped to interfere with radar) consisting of foil strips with paper chutes attached.
9. JainismcountableuncountableA 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

   Synonyms: rajju, infinitude

10. countableuncountablejewelryA necklace of at least one meter in length.
11. countableuncountablenauticalCordage of at least one inch in diameter, or a length of such cordage.
12. archaiccountableuncountableA unit of length equal to twenty feet.
13. countableslanguncountableRohypnol.
14. countableplural normallyslanguncountableSemen being ejaculated.

    shooting ropes

15. countableuncountablewith definite articleDeath by hanging.

    The murderer was sentenced to the rope.

16. countablerhythmic gymnasticsAn apparatus, currently with limited use by the senior contestants and not used in world-wide tournaments.
    1. countablemetonymicallyuncountablerhythmic gymnasticsAn apparatus program with a rope.

present singular third person ropes · participle present roping · participle past roped · past roped

1. transitiveTo tie (something) with rope.

   The robber roped the victims.

   Synonyms: tie, bind, secure

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

   The cowboy roped the calf.

   Synonyms: lasso

3. intransitiveTo 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. intransitiveTo 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. transitiveTo 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. InternetintransitiveTo commit suicide, particularly by hanging.

   My life is a mess; I might as well rope.

   3 more examples

   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

   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: ropemaxx

plural ropes · alternative dialectal rop · alternative dialectal rap

1. in pluralThe small intestines.

   the ropes of birds