rope

Less common meanings

5. 5
   climbverbintransitive

   To climb a steep surface using a rope or ropes for support.

   With the trail washed out, the guide decided they would rope down the last stretch of cliff instead of crossing the loose rock.

   The students practiced roping down a short rock face at the climbing gym before trying the real canyon.

   UsageFor descent, use rope down: they roped down the cliff. Rope up usually means attaching yourself to a rope before climbing.

   Note

   In G. F. Dutton's The Ridiculous Mountains (1984), the party "roped down to the platform" chosen for a bivouac. Although the definition speaks of climbing, the verb covers descent as well, and the particle carries the direction: rope down, rope up. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • G. F. Dutton wrote The Ridiculous Mountains. en.wiktionary.org
   • The Ridiculous Mountains was first published in 1984. frcc.co.uk
   • The book describes the party descending to a platform selected for a bivouac, using the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   hangingnouncountable or uncountablewith the

   Death by hanging, especially as a form of execution.

   The pirate escaped the rope by turning informant.

   Three conspirators were condemned to the rope at dawn.

   UsageSet phrases: escape the rope, face the rope, condemned to the rope. Without the, rope usually means the cord itself.

   Similargallows, noose, hanging, scaffold

7. 7
   baseball hitnouncountable or uncountable

   In baseball, a hard line drive hit fast and on a nearly flat path.

   The cleanup hitter laced a rope down the third-base line.

   That swing produced a rope that one-hopped the outfield wall.

   UsageUsually with hit or lace: he hit a rope past third, she laced a rope to left.

   Similarliner, laser

   Note

   A ballpark word that borrows the image of a taut line: the ball travels flat and fast, as if it were strung between bat and outfield. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The ball travels fast on a nearly flat trajectory. en.wikipedia.org
8. 8
   long necklacenouncountable or uncountable

   A very long necklace, typically about a meter or more, much longer than an ordinary strand.

   A rope of pearls looped twice around her neck and still reached her waist.

   The jeweler displayed a rope of graduated sapphires beneath the glass case.

   UsageUsually in the pattern a rope of pearls, sapphires or beads.

   Note

   In the jewelry trade the word works as a length category: a necklace counts as a rope once it reaches roughly a meter. A strand that long can hang to the waist or be doubled and looped at the throat. That is why the term turns up in descriptions of pearl and gemstone strands worn in several turns. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Rope is a necklace length category beginning at roughly a meter. iaja.com
   • A rope necklace can reach the waist or be wrapped several times around the neck. en.wikipedia.org
9. 9
   stretch into threadsverbintransitive

   To develop a ropelike shape or stretch into thin threads, as a liquid may do when poured or pulled.

   Cooks boil the syrup until it begins to rope from the ladle in long threads.

   Old beer sometimes ropes, forming slimy threads in the glass.

   Similarstring, thread

   Note

   Shakespeare's Henry V gives this verb its best-known picture: "roping icicles" hanging from a thatched roof, with the participle working as an adjective. In kitchens and breweries the same verb names a practical sign. Syrup that ropes has reached a high sugar content, while beer that ropes has gone bad. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Shakespeare's Henry V contains “roping icicles” above thatched houses, with “roping” modifying “icicles”; the speaker is the Constable. folger.edu
   • Syrup forming rope-like threads can indicate a high sugar concentration. sciencebuddies.org
   • Rope-like strands in beer are a sign of bacterial spoilage. oculyze.net
10. 10
    kill yourselfverbslangintransitive

    To kill oneself, especially by hanging.

    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.

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

    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.”

    2020, Joshua A. Segalewitz, "'You Don't Understand... It's Not About Virginity': Sexual Markets

    UsageCan sound flippant or hurtful. In neutral writing, say died by suicide instead.

    Note

    A word from online incel forums that has spread into wider Internet slang. Laura Bates, in Men Who Hate Women (2020), glosses it as incel terminology. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The suicide sense originated as incel slang. en.wiktionary.org
    • Bates glosses “roped” as incel terminology for death by suicide. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    nounarchaiccountable or uncountable

    Twenty feet, used as a measure of length.

    Note

    An old measure of twenty feet that now survives mainly in older land and building records. Because it is archaic, a modern text that uses it needs a gloss; most readers will not know the unit, so twenty feet is clearer. It has nothing to do with the Jain cosmic unit apart from the shared name. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Rope was an old unit of length equal to twenty feet. en.wikipedia.org
    • The twenty-foot measure is distinct from the Jain cosmic unit also called rope. cdn.vanderbilt.edu
12. 12
    noun

    In rhythmic gymnastics, a length of rope used as a hand apparatus, or a routine performed with it.
13. 13
    nounslang

    Rohypnol, a potent sedative of the benzodiazepine family.
14. 14
    verbdated

    To deliberately pull back or restrain the horse one is riding so that it cannot win the race.

    Others, a shade more advanced, have been known to bribe a jockey to "hold," "rope" a horse, or a stableman to poison or stupefy him.

    1882, Edwin Sharpe Grew, Baden Fletcher Smyth Baden-Powell
15. 15
    noundialectal

    The small intestines, the long, narrow, coiled section of the lower gut.
16. 16
    noun

    A data structure that stores a long string as a tree whose leaves hold short pieces of text, joined in order.
17. 17
    noun

    A type of radar-jamming chaff made of foil strips with paper chutes attached.
18. 18
    nounrare

    A unit of distance equal to the span a god, flying at ten million miles per second, would cover in six months.