Rope

Rope, rōp, n. a thick twisted cord: a string consisting of a number of things united, as a rope of pearls: anything glutinous and stringy: a local lineal measure, 20 feet.—v.i. to fasten with a rope, to restrain: to catch with a noosed rope: to tether: to enclose: to extend into a thread, as by a glutinous quality.—ns. Rope′-clamp, a pair of clamping jaws for securing the end of a cord; Rope′-danc′er, one who performs acrobatic feats on a rope: a rope-walker; Rope′-drill′ing, a method of boring holes in which a rope is used; Rope′-house, an evaporating-house in salt manufacture; Rope′-ladd′er, a ladder made of ropes; Rope′-machine′, a machine for making ropes from yarn; Rope′-māk′er, Rō′per, a maker of ropes; Rope′-māk′ing; Rope′-por′ter, a pulley to save the ropes of steam-ploughs from friction; Rope′-pull′ing, the sport of pulling at a rope, each party endeavouring to draw the other over a line; Rope′-pump, a machine for raising water by an endless rope; Rō′per, a crafty fellow: one who throws the lasso; Rope′-rail′way, a cable-railway.—adj. Rope′-ripe, deserving to be hanged.—ns. Rope′-run′ner, a railway brakesman; Rō′pery, a place where ropes are made; Rope′-spin′ner, one who spins ropes by a revolving wheel; Rope′-stitch, a kind of work in which the stitches are laid diagonally side by side; Rope′-trick, a juggling trick in which a man is firmly tied with ropes from which he extricates himself: (Shak.) a trick deserving the gallows; Rope′-walk, a long narrow shed used for the spinning of ropes; Rope′-winch, a set of three whirlers for twisting simultaneously the three yarns of a rope; Rope′-yarn, a yarn of many fibres for ropes.—adv. Rō′pily.—n. Rō′piness, stringiness: viscosity.—adjs. Rō′ping, Rō′pish, Rō′py, stringy, glutinous.—Rope in, to gather in, to enlist; Rope of sand, a tie easily broken; Rope's end, an instrument of punishment.—Be at the end of one's rope, to have exhausted one's powers or resources; Give a person rope, to allow a person full scope; On the high rope, elated, arrogant. [A.S. ráp; Ice. reip, Dut. reep, Ger. reif.]