rope

See also: ropě and ropę

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: rōp, IPA^(key): /ɹəʊp/
• (US) enPR: rōp, IPA^(key): /ɹoʊp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊp

Etymology 1

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”).

Alternative forms

• roap, roape (all obsolete)

Noun

rope (countable and uncountable, plural ropes)

Length of rope.

1. (uncountable) Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line.

   Synonyms: twine, line, cord; see also Thesaurus:string

   Nylon rope is usually stronger than similar rope made of plant fibers.

2. (countable) An individual length of such material.

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

3. A cohesive strand of something.

   The duchess wore a rope of pearls to the soirée.

   • 2003, Dennis Lehane, Mystic River‎^[1], →ISBN, page 138:

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

   1. (slang, vulgar) A shot of semen released during ejaculation.
4. (dated) A continuous stream.
   • 1852, John Bourne, A Treatise on the Screw Propeller: With Various Suggestions of Improvement, page 38:

     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.

5. (baseball) A hard line drive.

   He hit a rope past third and into the corner.

6. (ceramics) A long thin segment of soft clay, either extruded or formed by hand.
7. (computer science) A data structure resembling a string, using a concatenation tree in which each leaf represents a character.

   Synonym: cord

8. (military, uncountable) A kind of chaff (material dropped to interfere with radar) consisting of foil strips with paper chutes attached.
9. (Jainism) A unit of distance equivalent to the distance covered in six months by a god flying at ten million miles per second.

   Synonyms: rajju, infinitude

   • 2001, “Review of Metaphysical Teaching”, in Nagendra Kr. Singh, editor, Encyclopaedia of Jainism‎^[2], →ISBN, page 7522:

     The central strip of the loka, the Middle World, represents its smallest area, being only one rope wide and one hundred thousand leagues high, […]

10. (jewelry) A necklace of at least 1 meter in length.
11. (nautical) Cordage of at least 1 inch in diameter, or a length of such cordage.
12. (archaic) A unit of length equal to 20 feet.
13. (slang) Rohypnol.
14. (slang, usually in the plural) Semen being ejaculated.

    shooting ropes

15. (with "the") Death by hanging.

    The murderer was sentenced to the rope.

Derived terms

terms derived from rope (noun)

• battle rope
• bell rope
• bolt-rope
• bolt rope
• bull rope
• bungee rope
• bungy rope
• buoy rope
• cable-laid rope
• catch-rope
• catch rope
• Chinese jump rope
• Chinese ropes
• coyote's rope
• crack-rope
• dance on a rope
• day of the rope
• dead man's rope
• dead-rope
• devil's rope
• dog rope
• drag-rope
• drag rope
• fast rope
• flat rope
• frozen rope
• gift rope
• give him enough rope and he'll hang himself
• give one enough rope
• give someone enough rope
• glass-rope
• goat-rope
• goat rope
• guest rope
• guide rope
• guy rope
• hawser-laid rope
• hide-rope
• hobble rope
• hobble-rope
• Indian rope trick
• jump rope
• know the ropes
• laid rope
• learn the ropes
• leg rope
• Manila rope
• money for old rope
• nope rope
• on the high rope
• on the high ropes
• on the ropes
• on the ropes
• picket rope
• piss up a rope
• prayer rope
• push rope
• raft-rope
• ridge rope
• rope and choke
• rope-band
• rope bridge
• rope bunny
• rope burn
• rope clamp
• rope dancer
• rope-dancer
• rope-dancing
• rope dart
• rope drilling
• rope-end
• ropefull
• rope-house
• rope ladder
• rope-like
• rope line
• rope machine
• rope-maker
• ropemanship
• ropemaxx
• Rope Monday
• rope of sand
• rope out
• rope-over
• rope porter
• rope pulling
• rope pump
• rope railway
• rope-ripe
• rope runner
• ropery
• ropes course
• rope's end
• rope-sick
• rope stitch
• rope-tide
• rope tornado
• rope tow
• rope trick
• rope up
• ropewalk, rope-walk
• rope wall
• rope-way
• rope winch
• ropework, rope-work
• rope-worthy
• rope-yard
• rope yarn
• ropey, ropy
• shoot a rope
• show one the ropes
• skipping rope
• skip rope
• stretch rope
• teach one the ropes
• the end of one's rope
• tight-rope
• tight rope
• top rope
• top-rope
• tow rope
• twopenny rope
• wire rope
• yard rope
• yard-rope
• you'd complain if you were hung with a new rope

 

Descendants

• → Irish: rópa
• Tok Pisin: rop

Translations

thick, strong string

• Acehnese: taloe
• Afrikaans: tou
• Albanian: litar (sq), rade, konop (sq) m
• Amharic: ገመድ (gämäd)
• Arabic: حَبْل m (ḥabl)

  Egyptian Arabic: حبل m (ḥabl)

• Aragonese: cuerda f
• Armenian: պարան (hy) (paran), թոկ (hy) (tʻok), ճոպան (hy) (čopan)
• Aromanian: fune, coardã f
• Assamese: জৰী (zori), ৰছী (rosi), ডোৰ (dür)
• Asturian: cuerda (ast) f, soga f
• Azerbaijani: kəndir (az)
• Bashkir: арҡан (arqan)
• Basque: soka (eu)
• Belarusian: вяро́ўка (be) f (vjaróŭka), шво́рка f (švórka)
• Bengali: দড়ি (bn) (doṛi), রশি (bn) (rośi)
• Breton: kordenn (br) f
• Brunei Malay: tali, kalat
• Bulgarian: въже́ (bg) n (vǎžé)
• Burmese: ကြိုး (my) (krui:), လွန် (my) (lwan)
• Carpathian Rusyn: шпарґа f (šparga)
• Catalan: corda (ca) f
• Cebuano: lubid
• Central Dusun: tali
• Chakma: please add this translation if you can
• Cham:

  Eastern Cham: please add this translation if you can

  Western Cham: please add this translation if you can

• Chamicuro: ijcha, mespijcha
• Chechen: тӏийриг (tʼiı̇rig)
• Cherokee: ᏍᏕᏱᏛ (sdeyidv)
• Chickasaw: ishtalakchi', shtalakchi'
• Chinese:

  Dungan: шынзы (šɨnzɨ)

  Mandarin: 繩子／绳子 (zh) (shéngzi), 繩索／绳索 (zh) (shéngsuǒ)

• Coptic: ⲛⲟϩ (noh)
• Crimean Tatar: arqan
• Czech: lano (cs) n
• Danish: tov (da) n, reb (da) n
• Dupaningan Agta: gakad
• Dutch: touw (nl) n
• Egyptian: (nwḥ)
• Erzya: пикс (piks)
• Esperanto: ŝnuro (eo)
• Estonian: köis
• Faroese: reip (fo) n, tog n
• Fataluku: taru
• Finnish: köysi (fi)
• French: corde (fr) f
• Friulian: cuarde f
• Galician: corda (gl) f, soga (gl) f, estrinque m
• Georgian: თოკი (toḳi), საბელი (ka) (sabeli), ბაგირი (bagiri), ბაწარი (ka) (bac̣ari)
• German: Seil (de) n, Tau (de) n, Schnur (de) f
• Greek: σχοινί (el) n (schoiní)

  Ancient: σχοινίον n (skhoiníon), σειρά f (seirá)

• Gujarati: દોરડું n (dorḍũ)
• Hebrew: חֶבֶל (he) m (khével)
• Higaonon: lubid
• Hindi: डोरी (hi) f (ḍorī)
• Hungarian: kötél (hu)
• Icelandic: reipi (is) n, tog n
• Ido: kordo (io)
• Indonesian: tali (id)
• Ingrian: köys
• Interlingua: corda, fun
• Iranun: tali
• Irish: téad f, teaghrán m
• Istriot: curda f
• Italian: corda (it) f, cavo (it) m
• Japanese: ロープ (ja) (rōpu), 綱 (ja) (つな, tsuna), 縄 (ja) (なわ, nawa)
• Javanese: ꦠꦭꦶ (jv) (tali)
• Kabuverdianu: bulina
• Kannada: ಹಗ್ಗ (kn) (hagga)
• Kashubian: lina
• Kazakh: арқан (arqan), жіп (jıp)
• Khmer: ខ្សែ (km) (khsae), ពួរ (km) (puə)
• Kikuyu: mũkanda
• Korean: 밧줄 (ko) (batjul)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ben (ku), benik (ku)

• Kyrgyz: аркан (ky) (arkan), жип (ky) (jip)
• Lao: ເຊືອກ (sư̄ak)
• Latgalian: vierve f
• Latin: fūnis m, rudēns m, restis f
• Latvian: aukla (lv) f, virve (lv) f
• Lezgi: еб (eb)
• Lithuanian: virvė (lt) f
• Luhya: kumukoye
• Luxembourgish: Seel n
• Macedonian: јаже n (jaže)
• Maguindanao: tali
• Makasae: tali
• Malay: tali (ms)
• Maltese: ħabel m
• Manchu: ᡶᡠᡨᠠ (futa)
• Maori: taura, hutihuti, taukaea, torokaha
• Maranao: lobid, tali
• Marathi: दोरी f (dorī)
• Mbyá Guaraní: xã
• Middle English: corde, rop
• Mirandese: cuorda f
• Moksha: пикс (piks)
• Mongolian: олс (mn) (ols)
• Nanai: соптанги (soptaŋi)
• Navajo: tłʼóół
• Nepali: डोरी (ḍorī)
• Ngazidja Comorian: ngwe, hamba
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tau (no) n, rep (no) n, reip n, (ropes) tauverk n

  Nynorsk: tau n, tog n, reip n, (ropes) tauverk n

• Occitan: còrda (oc) f
• Odia: ଦଉଡି (dauḍi)
• Ojibwe: biiminakwaan
• Okinawan: 綱 (ちな, china)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: ѫже n (ǫže)

• Old English: sāl m, sīma m
• Old Javanese: tali
• Oromo: funyoo
• Osage: wéðį
• Ossetian: бӕндӕн (bændæn), рӕтӕн (rætæn)
• Ottoman Turkish: ایپ (ip), خلاط (halat), طنب (tunub), ریسمان (risman); اورغان (urgan) (a stout or large rope)
• Papiamentu: kabuya, liña
• Pashto: پړیَ (ps) m (paṟṟaey)
• Persian: طناب (fa) (tanâb), رسن (fa) (rasan)
• Plautdietsch: Strank m
• Polish: lina (pl) f, sznur (pl) m, powróz (pl) m (archaic)
• Portuguese: corda (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਰੱਸਾ f (rassā)
• Quechua: watu, waska
• Rakhine: please add this translation if you can
• Rohingya: rosí
• Romanian: frânghie (ro) f, coardă (ro), funie (ro)
• Romansch: suga f (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan), suja f (Sutsilvan), soua f (Surmiran), sua f (Puter, Vallader), sughet m (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan)
• Russian: верёвка (ru) f (verjóvka), трос (ru) m (tros) (thick), кана́т (ru) m (kanát) (cable), бечёвка (ru) f (bečóvka)
• Sanskrit: रज्जु (sa) f (rajju)
• Sardinian: codra f, corda f, colda f, fune f, funi f
• Saterland Frisian: Roop
• Scottish Gaelic: ròp m, ròpa m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: у̏же n

  Roman: ȕže (sh) n

• Sidamo: siiwo
• Sinhalese: කඹය (kaᵐbaya)
• Slovak: lano n
• Slovene: vrv (sl) f
• Somali: seeto, xadhig
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: powrjoz m

• Spanish: cuerda (es) f, soga (es) f
• Sranan Tongo: titei
• Sundanese: tali (su)
• Swahili: kamba (sw)
• Swedish: rep (sv) n
• Tagalog: tali (tl)
• Tajik: арғамчин (tg) (arġamčin), таноб (tanob)
• Talysh:

  Asalemi: لافند (lâfənd), لافوند (lâfund)

• Tamil: கயிறு (ta) (kayiṟu)
• Tarifit: asɣun m
• Tatar: аркан (tt) (arkan)
• Tausug: lubid
• Telugu: తాడు (te) (tāḍu), మోకు (te) (mōku)
• Tetum: tali
• Thai: เชือก (th) (chʉ̂ʉak)
• Tibetan: ཐག་པ (thag pa)
• Tigrinya: ገመድ (gämäd)
• Turkish: halat (tr)
• Turkmen: tanap, ýüp
• Ugaritic: 𐎈𐎁𐎍 (ḥbl)
• Ukrainian: вірьо́вка f (virʹóvka), моту́зка f (motúzka), шво́рка f (švórka), верве́чка (uk) f (vervéčka)
• Urdu: رسی (resa), ڈوری f (ḍorī)
• Uyghur: ئارقان (arqan), ئارغامچا (arghamcha)
• Uzbek: arqon (uz), arg'amchi (uz)
• Vietnamese: dây (vi)
• Volapük: jain (vo)
• Walloon: coide (wa) f
• Welsh: rhaff (cy) f, rhaffau (cy) f pl
• White Hmong: hlua
• Yakut: быа (bıa)
• Yiddish: שטריק m or f (shtrik)
• Yup'ik: pilu'uvkaaq
• Zande: gire
• Zealandic: touwe f
• Zhuang: cag
• Zulu: intambo (zu) class 9/10

a length of this string

• Albanian: litar (sq)
• Catalan: corda (ca) f
• Dutch: touw (nl) n
• Finnish: köysi (fi)
• French: corde (fr) f, cordage (fr) m
• Galician: corda (gl) f
• German: Seil (de) n, Tau (de) n
• Irish: téad f
• Italian: corda (it) f
• Latvian: aukla (lv) f, virve (lv) f
• Middle English: corde, rop
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tau (no) n, rep (no) n, reip n

  Nynorsk: tau n, tog n, reip n

• Portuguese: corda (pt) f
• Russian: верёвка (ru) f (verjóvka)
• Spanish: cuerda (es) f, soga (es) f
• Swedish: rep (sv) n

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} გვარლი (ka) (gvarli)

Further reading

• Rope on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Rope (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle English ropen, rope (“to form ropes”), from rop (“rope”); see above.

Verb

rope (third-person singular simple present ropes, present participle roping, simple past and past participle roped)

1. (transitive) To tie (something) with rope.

   The robber roped the victims.

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

   The cowboy roped the calf.

3. (intransitive) To climb by means of a rope or ropes.
   • 1984, G. F. Dutton, The Ridiculous Mountains, page 153:

     We roped down to the platform selected for the bivouac; set up our bags and brewed a reasonable meal.

4. (intransitive) To be formed into rope; to draw out or extend into a filament or thread.
   • 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]:

     Let us not hang like roping icicles / Upon our houses' thatch.

5. (Internet slang, intransitive) To commit suicide, particularly by hanging.
   • 2019, anonymous, quoted in Julia Rose DeCook, "Curating the Future: The Sustainability Practices of Online Hate Groups", dissertation submitted to Michigan State University, page 153:

     In figure 71, the poster Brahcel notes that he “almost roped” because he could not find the community […]

   • 2020, Joshua A. Segalewitz, "'You Don't Understand... It's Not About Virginity': Sexual Markets, Identity Construction, and Violent Masculinity on an Incel Forum Board", thesis submitted to the University of Dayton, page 36:

     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.”

   • 2021, Laura Bates, From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How it Affects Us All, unnumbered page:

     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.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:rope.

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

Synonyms

• (tie with rope): tie, bind, secure
• (throw a rope around): lasso
• (kill oneself): ropemaxx; see also Thesaurus:commit suicide

Derived terms

terms derived from rope (verb)

• ropable, ropeable
• rope-a-dope
• roped
• rope in, rope into
• rope off
• roper
• rope together

Translations

to tie with rope

• Finnish: köyttää (fi)
• Ingrian: köyttää

to throw a rope or similar around

• Finnish: lassota (fi)

to climb by means of ropes

• Finnish: köysikiipeillä

to be formed into rope; to draw out or extend into a filament or thread

• Finnish: punoutua

slang: to commit suicide by hanging

• Finnish: vetää itsensä kiikkuun (slang); hirttäytyä (fi) (standard)

Etymology 3

From Middle English rop (“gut, intestine”), from Old English rop, ropp; compare Middle Dutch rop, roppe (“fish guts”).

The modern pronunciation results from phonological assimilation to Etymology 1.

Alternative forms

• rop, rap (dialectal)

Noun

rope (plural ropes)

1. (in the plural) The small intestines.

   the ropes of birds

Anagrams

• Pero, oper, pore, reop, repo

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrope/, [ˈro̞pe̞]
• Rhymes: -ope
• Syllabification^(key): ro‧pe

Noun

rope (slang)

1. (gaming) Clipping of roolipeli (“RPG, role-playing game”).

Declension

Inflection of rope (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)
nominative		rope	ropet
genitive		ropen	ropejen
partitive		ropea	ropeja
illative		ropeen	ropeihin
		singular	plural
nominative		rope	ropet
accusative	nom.	rope	ropet
	gen.	ropen
genitive		ropen	ropejen
partitive		ropea	ropeja
inessive		ropessa	ropeissa
elative		ropesta	ropeista
illative		ropeen	ropeihin
adessive		ropella	ropeilla
ablative		ropelta	ropeilta
allative		ropelle	ropeille
essive		ropena	ropeina
translative		ropeksi	ropeiksi
abessive		ropetta	ropeitta
instructive		—	ropein
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of rope (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative ropeni ropeni accusative nom. ropeni ropeni gen. ropeni genitive ropeni ropejeni partitive ropeani ropejani inessive ropessani ropeissani elative ropestani ropeistani illative ropeeni ropeihini adessive ropellani ropeillani ablative ropeltani ropeiltani allative ropelleni ropeilleni essive ropenani ropeinani translative ropekseni ropeikseni abessive ropettani ropeittani instructive — — comitative — ropeineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative ropesi ropesi accusative nom. ropesi ropesi gen. ropesi genitive ropesi ropejesi partitive ropeasi ropejasi inessive ropessasi ropeissasi elative ropestasi ropeistasi illative ropeesi ropeihisi adessive ropellasi ropeillasi ablative ropeltasi ropeiltasi allative ropellesi ropeillesi essive ropenasi ropeinasi translative ropeksesi ropeiksesi abessive ropettasi ropeittasi instructive — — comitative — ropeinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative ropemme ropemme accusative nom. ropemme ropemme gen. ropemme genitive ropemme ropejemme partitive ropeamme ropejamme inessive ropessamme ropeissamme elative ropestamme ropeistamme illative ropeemme ropeihimme adessive ropellamme ropeillamme ablative ropeltamme ropeiltamme allative ropellemme ropeillemme essive ropenamme ropeinamme translative ropeksemme ropeiksemme abessive ropettamme ropeittamme instructive — — comitative — ropeinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative ropenne ropenne accusative nom. ropenne ropenne gen. ropenne genitive ropenne ropejenne partitive ropeanne ropejanne inessive ropessanne ropeissanne elative ropestanne ropeistanne illative ropeenne ropeihinne adessive ropellanne ropeillanne ablative ropeltanne ropeiltanne allative ropellenne ropeillenne essive ropenanne ropeinanne translative ropeksenne ropeiksenne abessive ropettanne ropeittanne instructive — — comitative — ropeinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative ropensa ropensa accusative nom. ropensa ropensa gen. ropensa genitive ropensa ropejensa partitive ropeaan ropeansa ropejaan ropejansa inessive ropessaan ropessansa ropeissaan ropeissansa elative ropestaan ropestansa ropeistaan ropeistansa illative ropeensa ropeihinsa adessive ropellaan ropellansa ropeillaan ropeillansa ablative ropeltaan ropeltansa ropeiltaan ropeiltansa allative ropelleen ropellensa ropeilleen ropeillensa essive ropenaan ropenansa ropeinaan ropeinansa translative ropekseen ropeksensa ropeikseen ropeiksensa abessive ropettaan ropettansa ropeittaan ropeittansa instructive — — comitative — ropeineen ropeinensa

Derived terms

• pöytärope
• ropettaa (“to roleplay”)

 

Anagrams

• Repo, pore, repo

Lithuanian

Noun form

rópe

1. instrumental/vocative singular of rópė (“turnip”)

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

rope

1. Alternative form of rop (“rope”)

Etymology 2

Verb

rope

1. Alternative form of ropen (“to form ropes”)

Etymology 3

Verb

rope

1. Alternative form of ropen (“to cry out”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse hrópa, from Proto-Germanic *hrōpaną.

Verb

rope (imperative rop, present tense roper, simple past ropte, past participle ropt)

1. to shout

Derived terms

• utrope

References

• “rope” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

rope (imperative rop, present tense ropar or roper, simple past ropa or ropte, past participle ropa or ropt, present participle ropande)

1. Alternative form of ropa