“rope” – English explanatory dictionary

noun 1. a very thick cord ○ You’ll need a rope to pull the car out of the ditch. ○ The burglar climbed down from the balcony on a rope. 2. □ to learn the ropes to learn how to do something ○ We send new salespeople out with an experienced rep to learn the ropes. □ it’s money for old rope it’s money which is easy to make (informal.) ■ verb 1. to tie someone or something together with a rope ○ The climbers roped themselves together. ○ We roped the sofa onto the roof of the car. 2. □ to rope someone in to get someone to help or to join in ○ Rope in as many people as you can, we need all the help we can get. ○ She was roped in to deal with the children’s tea.

to lose a race of any kind purposely, to swindle one’s backers
or the public by means of a “cross” or pre-arranged race, in which the
best man or best horse is made to ROPE, or run behind.

n. [AS. rap; akin to D. reep, G. reif ring hoop, Icel. reip rope, Sw. rep, Dan. reb, reeb Goth. skaudaraip latchet.]
1. A large, stout cord, usually one not less than an inch in circumference, made of strands twisted or braided together. It differs from cord, line, and string, only in its size. See Cordage.
2. A row or string consisting of a number of things united, as by braiding, twining, etc.; as a rope of onions.
3. pl. The small intestines; as the ropes of birds. Rope ladder, a ladder made of ropes. — Rope mat., a mat made of cordage, or strands of old rope. — Rope of sand, something of no cohession or fiber; a feeble union or tie; something not to be relied upon. — Rope pump, a pump in which a rapidly running endless rope raises water by the momentum communicated to the water by its adhesion to the rope. — Rope transmission (Mach.), a method of transmitting power, as between distant places, by means of endless ropes running over grooved pulleys. — Rope’s end, a piece of rope; especially, one used as a lash in inflicting punishment. — To give one rope, to give one liberty or license; to let one go at will uncheked.

v. i. [imp. & p. p. Roped p. pr. & vb. n. Roping.] To be formed into rope; to draw out or extend into a filament or thread, as by means of any glutinous or adhesive quality. “Let us not hang like ropingicicles
Upon our houses’ thatch.” Shak.

v. t. 1. To bind, fasten, or tie with a rope or cord; as to rope a bale of goods. Hence: —
2. To connect or fasten together, as a party of mountain climbers, with a rope.
3. To partition, separate, or divide off, by means of a rope, so as to include or exclude something; as to rope in, or rope off, a plot of ground; to rope out a crowd.
4. To lasso (a steer, horse). [Colloq. U.S.]
5. To draw, as with a rope; to entice; to inveigle; to decoy; as to rope in customers or voters. [Slang, U.S.]
6. To prevent from winning (as a horse), by pulling or curbing. [Racing Slang, Eng.]