Definition
nounThick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line.
nounAn individual length of such material.
Sentence Examples
You must promise not to take the rope off.
The burglar tied my hands behind my back with a rope.
The rope broke and she fell 50 metres onto the rocks.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Jimmy began to scream and ropes of spit shot from his mouth."
— 2003, Dennis Lehane, Mystic River, →ISBN, page 138:
"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:
"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:
"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:
"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]: