rope

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹəʊp/ (UK); /ɹoʊp/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English rope, rop, inherited from Old English rāp (“strong, heavy cord”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *raipaz, of unknown origin,^[2][3] source also of Old Norse reip, Dutch reep, Old High German reif, hoop (German Reif (“ring, hoop”)), Old Frisian silrāp, shoe-thong, and Gothic skaudaraip, shoe-lace.^[3][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A length of strong cordage: about 725, one of the oldest recorded English words.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Figurative use is from about 1000.^[6] A tightrope is from 1620,^[6] the ropes of a boxing ring from 1829,^[6] and a clothes-line from 1833.^[6] Strictly, rope is cordage between one and ten inches round, a thicker one being a cable.^[3] The verb, to bind with a rope, is from the early 14th century,^[3] to mark off with rope from 1738,^[3] and to rope in, to secure someone for a purpose, by 1848.^[3] To know the ropes, at first a seaman's term, is from 1840,^[3] on the ropes, about to be beaten, from 1924, from boxing,^[3][7] and at the end of one's rope by the 1680s,^[3] as is give someone enough rope to hang himself.^[3] Many 16th-century slang expressions linked rope with hanging, such as rope-ripe, deserving to be hanged.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – a rope.^[6]
• early 14th century – to bind (verb).^[3]
• 1620 – a tightrope.^[6]
• 1680s – at the end of one's rope.^[3]
• 1829 – the ropes of a ring.^[6]
• 1840 – to know the ropes.^[3]
• 1924 – on the ropes.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A thick, strong cord of twisted fibres or wire.
2. A row of things strung or twisted together: a rope of pearls.
3. A cord with a noose for hanging, or execution by hanging.
4. (the ropes) The way things are done: to know the ropes.

Verb

1. To tie or fasten with a rope.
2. To enclose or mark off with a rope.
3. To catch with a rope; to lasso.
4. (rope in) To persuade or trick someone into taking part.

Word family

• roper
• ropelike
• ropable
• ropeable

Related words

• stirrup
• lasso
• cord
• cable

Usage notes

In Somerset dialect, rope was recorded as a word for a dwarf.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)