rope

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A flexible heavy cord of tightly intertwined hemp or other fiber.
• noun A string of items attached in one line, especially by twisting or braiding.
• noun A sticky glutinous formation of stringy matter in a liquid.
• noun A cord with a noose at one end for hanging a person.
• noun Execution or death by hanging.
• noun A lasso or lariat.
• noun Sports Several cords strung between poles to enclose a boxing or wrestling ring.
• noun Informal Specialized procedures or details.
• noun Baseball A line drive.
• transitive verb To tie, fasten, or attach with a rope or other cord.
• transitive verb To enclose, separate, or partition with a rope or other cord.
• transitive verb To catch with a rope or lasso.
• transitive verb Informal To persuade or manipulate (someone).
• idiom Sports (on the ropes) Knocked against the ropes that enclose a boxing ring.
• idiom (on the ropes) On the verge of defeat or collapse; hopeless or powerless.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To be drawn out or extended into a filament or thread by means of any glutinous or adhesive element.
• To draw by or as by a rope; tie up or fasten together with a rope or ropes: as, to rope a bale of goods; specifically, to connect by means of ropes fastened to the body, for safety in mountain-climbing: as, the guides insisted that the party should be roped.
• To pull or curb in; restrain, as a rider his horse, to prevent him from winning a race; pull: a not uncommon trick on the turf.
• To catch with a noosed rope; lasso.
• To tether, as a horse.
• To inclose or mark off with a rope: as, a space in front of the pictures was roped off to prevent injury to them; a circle was roped out for the games.
• To sew a bolt-rope on, as on a sail or an awning.
• noun A dwarf.
• noun The basal anchoring tuft of glassy fibers which occurs in the hexactinellid sponges.
• noun In mine- or plane-haulage, a continuous rope, usually of wire (driven from a conveniently placed drum) to which, by special grip appliances, the cars to be moved can be attached without stopping the motion of the rope.
• noun A cord of considerable thickness; technically, a cord over one inch in circumference.
• noun A row or string consisting of a number of things united so as to form a cord more or less thick: as, a rope of onions; a rope of pearls.
• noun Anything glutinous or gelatinous which is drawn out in long strings.
• noun A local linear measure, twenty feet; in Devonshire, a measure of stonework, 20 feet in length, 1 foot in height, and 18 inches in thickness.
• noun Haughty; arrogant.
• noun A Middle English form of roop.
• noun See rop.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun 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.
• noun A row or string consisting of a number of things united, as by braiding, twining, etc..
• noun The small intestines.
• noun a ladder made of ropes.
• noun a mat made of cordage, or strands of old rope.
• noun something of no cohession or fiber; a feeble union or tie; something not to be relied upon.
• noun a pump in which a rapidly running endless rope raises water by the momentum communicated to the water by its adhesion to the rope.
• noun (Mach.) a method of transmitting power, as between distant places, by means of endless ropes running over grooved pulleys.
• noun a piece of rope; especially, one used as a lash in inflicting punishment.
• noun to give one liberty or license; to let one go at will uncheked.
• transitive verb To bind, fasten, or tie with a rope or cord.
• transitive verb To connect or fasten together, as a party of mountain climbers, with a rope.
• transitive verb To partition, separate, or divide off, by means of a rope, so as to include or exclude something.