name
Meaning 1
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
ropes
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
-
General-American: /ɹoʊps/
-
Received-Pronunciation: /ɹəʊps/
-
rhymes with -əʊps
-
US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
-
CMU ARPABET: R OW1 P S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
plural of rope
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, plural
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Basic skills of a job.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: in-plural
Examples
- show the ropes, learn the ropes
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
third-person singular simple present indicative of rope
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
In the sense of skills, a now figurative use that originally referred to literal ropes. The phrase “he knows the ropes” written on a seaman’s discharge meant that he was inexperienced and only familiar with a ship’s principal ropes.
Real reading context