▪ I. lope, n.
(ləʊp)
[A dialectal var. of loup n. a. ON. hlǫup: see leap n.1 Some of the uses may be from Du. loop, which is etymologically identical, and others are prob. from the Eng. vb.]
† 1. = leap n.1 in various senses. Obs.
| 14.. S. Eng. Leg. (MS. Bodl. 779) in Herrig Archiv LXXXII. 402/47 He ordeyned þat ech man þat prest wolde be scholde vndirfong þe ordres fro gre to gre; wit-oute lope & defaute. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 3436 He at a lope was at hir, and hir kist. c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. ii. 223 Tyme goth fast, it is full lyght of lope. 1483 Cath. Angl. 220/2 A Lope, saltus. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 51 Quhairfor, ony Lope thocht wondirful, is..commounlie called the Salmont lope. 1662 Cotgrave Wits Interpreter (ed. 2) 323 He makes no more to run on a rope, Then a Puritan does of a Bishop or Pope. And comes down with a vengeance at one single lope. a 1734 North Exam. iii. viii. §47 (1740) 618, I cannot do the Author Justice..without taking a large Lope, over the next Reign, into that which followed. |
2. A long bounding stride. Now used chiefly of people.
| 1809 M. L. Weems Life F. Marion xii. 108 He dashed off at a charging lope. 1846 T. B. Thorpe Backwoods 13 [The mustang pony] goes rollicking ahead, with the eternal lope..a mixture of two or three gaits, as easy as the motions of a cradle. 1889 R. Kipling From Sea to Sea (1900) I. xx. 430 The Jap soldier..doubles with the easy lope of the 'rickshaw coolie. 1894 Crockett Lilac Sunbonnet 310 At his usual swift wolf's lope he was out of sight..speedily. 1910 C. E. Mulford Hopalong Cassidy xxi. 135 As he rode at an easy lope he kept a constant lookout for signs of rustling. 1953 R. Chandler Let. 15 Mar. in R. Chandler Speaking (1966) 28 Walks with a forward-leaning lope, huh? 1961 L. van der Post Heart of Hunter i. ii. 25 The others followed close on her heels with a strange stumbling lope. 1973 Houston (Texas) Post 14 Oct. (Spotlight Suppl.) 15/4 Somehow..Hero Hazard reaches the Sphinx..and evades the grisly Arab agents after a lope up and down the Great Pyramid. |
3. Comb.: lope-way (see quots.).
| 1736 Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Lope-way, a private footpath. 1791 Gentl. Mag. LXI. ii. 928 A lope-way in Kent is now a short or quick way or bridle-way. |
▪ II. lope, v.
(ləʊp)
Also 7–8 loap(e.
[A dial. var. of loup v., a. ON. hlǫupa: see leap v.]
1. intr. To leap, jump, spring. Also with about. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 220/2 To Lope, salire, saltare. 1529 Lyndesay Complaynt 251 And go, all, to the hie boirdall: Thare may we lope at lybertie, Withouttin ony grauitie. 1549 Compl. Scot. xvii. 151 Buciphal the grit horse of allexander..syne tholit hym to lope on hym. 1581 N. Woodes Conflict Conscience iii. iv. D iij b, In gude feth sir, this newis de gar me lope. 1623 Middleton & Rowley Sp. Gipsy iv. i. (1653) G, He that loapes on the Ropes, shew me such an other wench. a 1734 North Lives (1826) I. 62 Not by such large strides as he made in getting money, and loping into preferments. a 1734 ― Exam. i. ii. §82 (1740) 73 It is plain, his Malice lopes at a Venture. 1891 Atkinson Last of Giantkillers 69 The Staff itself leaping—or rather loping—about with a startling activity. |
† b. Of the pulse: To beat, throb. Obs. rare.
Cf. Cornwall Dial. lopping, throbbing with pain.
| a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. P. xliv. 31, I quake for feir—my puncis lope—I shake betuix dispair and hope. |
2. intr. To run, run away. Now only slang and dial. (see Eng. Dial. Dict.).
| c 1572 Gascoigne Fruites Warre lii, Yet was he forst, alwayes from lawes to lope. a 1592 Greene Jas. IV (1598) A iij b, This whinyard has gard many better men to lope then thou. 1632 I. L. Womens Rights 146 They may lope ouer ditch and dale. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Let's buy a Brush, or Let's Lope, let us scour off, and make what shift we can to secure our selves from being apprehended. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar Tongue, Loap, to run away; he loaped down the dancers, he ran down stairs. |
3. To run with a long, bounding stride. Also with along, away. (Said chiefly of animals.)
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Lope, to take long strides; particularly with long legs. 1848 Blackw. Mag. LXIV. 27 The larger wolves..lope hungrily around. 1863 H. Kingsley A. Elliot I. 78 He..laid his leaf-like ears back, drooped his tail,..and loped, or lurked in his Walk, which means, that he moved the two legs which were on the same side of him together. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxiv, The hares and rabbits loped away, innumerable. 1891 Field 7 Mar. 331/1 The first fox..was seen loping over the uplands. 1893 Spectator 10 June 767 A regular Hindostanee carrier..will..lope along over a hundred miles in twenty-four hours. 1897 G. Bartram People of Clopton viii. 233 Carter walked at a great pace, and we had to lope now and then to keep up with him. 1899 Daily News 6 Nov. 5/4 A Boer pony..hardly knows how to gallop or trot, but goes loping along in a leisurely, monotonous way. |
b. causative. To make to run with a long, bounding stride.
| 1885 T. Roosevelt Hunting Trips viii. 261 For seven or eight miles we loped our jaded horses along at a brisk pace. |