ropes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of rope.

   The climbers checked all of their ropes before starting the ascent.

   Thick mooring ropes held the ferry against the dock.

   Note

   The plural belongs to rope as a countable thing: individual lengths of cord, or separate strands of something such as clay. As a material, rope is uncountable, so you buy rope by the length but check your ropes one by one. The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb, as in she ropes the steer. With the, it becomes the idiom for a job's basics.

2. 2
   nounplural

   The basic skills and procedures involved in performing a particular job or activity.

   Like a new driver finally knowing every turn on the route without checking a map.

   A senior nurse showed the new hires the ropes during their first shift.

   Once he knew the ropes, the warehouse work felt almost effortless.

   Similarbasics, procedures, routine, drill

   Note

   Always plural and always with the: you learn the ropes, or someone shows you the ropes. The phrase began aboard ship, where the ropes were literal, and it started out less flattering than it sounds. A seaman's discharge marked "knows the ropes" meant he was inexperienced, familiar only with a ship's principal ropes. Today it means having mastered the basics, with no slight intended.

3. 3
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of rope.

   The rancher ropes each steer before the branding begins.

   Whenever a storm threatens, the dockhand ropes the canoes together.

   Note

   The verb works both with and without an object. A rancher ropes a steer by throwing a lasso around it, and a dockhand ropes canoes together. A climber simply ropes, going up by means of a rope, and soft material ropes when it draws out into threads. In online slang the bare intransitive can refer to suicide by hanging, so context matters.

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