▪ I. nope, n.1
(nəʊp)
Also 7 nowpe, noap.
[app. a var. of alp, olp: see N 3.]
The bullfinch.
| 1611 Cotgr., Chochepierre, a kind of Nowpe, or Bull⁓finch. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xiii. 74 The Red-sparrow, the Nope, the Red-breast, and the Wren. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 185 The Nope feedeth upon Mast, Nuts, and Cherries. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. 247 The Bulfinch, Alp or Nope. [Hence in various later works.] 1848 Zoologist VI. 2191 In Warwickshire, as elsewhere,..the bullfinch [is] a ‘nope’. 1879– in dial. glossaries, esp. West Midland and E. Anglian. |
| attrib. 1668 in T. C. Smith & J. Short Hist. Ribchester (1890) 110 To Richard Ward for 13 Noap heades. |
▪ II. nope, n.2 north. dial.
(nəʊp)
Also 9 noap(e.
[See note to nolp n.]
A knock on the head.
| 1725 New Cant. Dict., Nope, a Blow, a Knock on the Pate. 1785 W. Hutton Bran New Wark 157 In some churches the sidesmen gang about with staaves, and give ivvery sleeper a good nope. 1869– in northern glossaries. |
▪ III. nope, adv. slang (orig. U.S.).
(nəʊp)
Extended form of no adv.3 Cf. yep.
| 1888 N.Y. Life 12 May, Cover 3/2 ‘I suppose you will be a literary man, like your father, when you grow up.’ ‘Nope,’ said the little boy..‘Literary nuthin'! I'm goin' to be a ten-thousand-dollar cook.’ 1891 Harper's Mag. Nov. 970/1 The professor, wishing to express negation, made use of the objectionable form ‘nope’. 1908 C. E. Mulford Orphan ii. 24 Nope, I reckon not—seven husky Apaches are too much for one man to go out of his way to fight. 1918 E. Wallace Down Under Donovan x. 129 ‘Have you been in Europe before?’ ‘Nope,’ she replied shortly. 1941 R. Stout Red Threads iii. 30 ‘You don't paint in oils, do you?’ ‘Nope.’ 1956 E. Pound tr. Sophocles' Women of Trachis 27 Nope, no proof without data. 1964 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 8 Apr. (1970) 103 And General George Marshall said, ‘I'll be damned if I will have people calling me {oqq}Marshal Marshall{cqq}. Nope, we'll just have five-star Generals.’ 1971 H. C. Rae Marksman i. viii. 72 ‘Anybody asking for me?’ ‘Nope.’ |