ope

Representing oh pronounced with the mouth snapped closed at the end (IPA^(key): /oʊp/, [oʊp̚]) (excrescent /p/). Compare yep, yup, nope, and welp.

• (General American) enPR: ōp IPA^(key): /oʊp/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əʊp/
• Rhymes: -əʊp

ope

1. (Midwestern US) an exclamation of surprise; oops
   • 2024 January 27, Charlie Berens and Myles Montplaisir, We're Midwesterners:

     We're Midwesterners. We like long walks through frozen cornfields. Ope! Watch out!

   Ope! Sorry about that.

   Ope, let me just squeeze past ya there.

Specific to the Midwestern United States but used elsewhere in American English.[1]

From Middle English ope (“open”), shortened form of open, from Old English open (“open”). More at open.

• (General American) enPR: ōp IPA^(key): /oʊp/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /əʊp/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

ope (comparative more ope, superlative most ope)

1. (now dialectal or poetic) Open. [from 13th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.6:

     Arriving there, as did by chaunce befall, / He found the gate wyde ope […] .

   • 1819, John Keats, Otho the Great, act 5, scene 5, verses 191-192:

     We are all weary — faint — set ope the doors —
     I will to bed! — To-morrow —

   • [1633], George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple: Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, […], 1885, →OCLC:

     On Sunday heaven's gate stands ope.

ope (third-person singular simple present opes, present participle oping, simple past and past participle oped)

1. (archaic, transitive, intransitive) To open.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Ere I ope his letter, / I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth.

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     The hour's now come, the very minute bids thee ope thine ear; obey and be attentive.

   • 1842, Robert Browning, The Pied Piper of Hamelin:

     There came into many a burgher's pate / A text which says that heaven's gate / Opes to the rich at as easy rate / As the needle's eye takes a camel in!

ope (plural opes)

1. (Cornwall) Alley or narrow passage (an opening between houses, buildings, etc).

   Tonkin's Ope

   • 2018 October 4, Lee Trewhela, “The secrets of Truro’s hidden Carne’s Ope unveiled for the first time in 60 years”, in Cornwall Live:

     It formed part of the extensive network of opes across the city which used to carry dock workers down to the quay for work on the boats in the bustling Port of Truro.

   • 2021 June 15, John Husband, A-Z of Truro: Places-People-History, Amberley Publishing Limited, →ISBN:

     Opes / A characteristic that Truro shares with other Cornish towns are the narrow passageways which often form shortcuts between streets. […] These include Roberts Ope, Tippet's Backlet (Tippet was the owner of a fulling mill), Coombe's Lane, Pearson's Ope, Tonkin's Ope, Swifty's Ope, Nalder's Court, Job's Court and Carne's Ope, although this last has now been blocked off by building extensions. Perhaps the most memorable is Squeeze Guts Alley (see separate entry).

• EPO, EoP, PEO, POE, Poe, peo., poe, poë

• IPA^(key): /ope/ [o.pe]
• Rhymes: -ope
• Hyphenation: o‧pe

From ot- (combining form of ogi (“bread”)) +‎ mehe (“thin”), itself from Proto-Basque *bene.

ope inan

1. (rare) flatbread
   • 1808, Juan Bautista Aguirre, Eracusaldiac [Lessons], Tolosa, published 1850, page 381:

     Beguiratu zuan Profetac, cer ote zan Aingueruac ecarri ciona, eta ecusi cituan supeco opea bat, eta ura. [Original spelling]
     Begiratu zuen profetak, zer ote zan aingeruak ekarri ziona, eta ekusi zituan supeko opea bat, eta ura. [Modernized spelling]

     The prophet looked, wondering what the angel had brought to him, he saw a piece of flatbread in the oven and water.

Probably borrowed from Latin opem (“wealth, assistance”).

ope inan

1. (obsolete) April
   • 1596, Joseba Lakarra, editor, Refranes y sentencias [Sayings and sentences] (Euskararen Lekukoak; 19)‎, Bilbao: Euskaltzaindia, published 1996, →ISBN, page 313:

     Opeco erlea eneçat, Mayacecoa anajeençat. [Original spelling]
     Opeko erlea enetzat, maiatzekoa anajeentzat. [Modernized spelling]

     The bees of April [are] for me, those of May [are] for my brother.

• "ope" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], euskaltzaindia.eus
• “ope” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], euskaltzaindia.eus

Clipping of opettaja.

• IPA^(key): /ˈope/, [ˈo̞pe̞]
• Rhymes: -ope
• Syllabification^(key): o‧pe

ope (colloquial)

1. teach, teacher

   Synonyms: opettaja, maikka

• “ope”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

ope

1. ablative singular of ops

ope

1. neuter singular of open

ope inan (plural òpeyo)

1. third-person singular present active indicative inanimate of ope (“it is white”)

• òpsu
• òpàn
• wèhènchiopànk
• òpànk

• Rementer, Jim with Pearson, Bruce L. (2005) “ope”, in Leneaux, Grant, Whritenour, Raymond, editors, The Lenape Talking Dictionary, The Lenape Language Preservation Project