rope

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   fasten with a rope

   rope the bag securely

2. 2
   verb

   catch with a lasso

   rope cows

3. 3
   noun

   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.

4. 4
   noun

   An individual length of such material.

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

5. 5
   noun

   A cohesive strand of something.

   The duchess wore a rope of pearls to the soirée.

6. 6
   noun

   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.

7. 7
   noun

   A hard line drive.

   He hit a rope past third and into the corner.

8. 8
   noun

   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, […]

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”), Swedish rep (“rope”), Danish reb (“rope”), Icelandic reipi (“rope”), Albanian rrip (“belt, rope”).