| 释义 |
▪ I. cope, n.1|kəʊp|
Forms: 3–4 cape, 3– cope; 4– northern cape, (caip, kape, kaip); also 3 kope, 4 coepe, 4–6 coppe, 5–7 coope, 6–7 coape.
[In 12th c. cāpe (pl. capen), ME. cōpe, repr. an OE. *cápe wk. fem., not exemplified (cf. ON. kápa, Dan. kaabe), a. med.L. cāpa cope, as to which see cap.
Cápe, if in OE., must have been a late word, introduced after cāpa ‘cope’ became the prevalent form and sense in med.L. (see Du Cange), long after cappa in its earlier form and sense gave cæppe cap. Cf. cantelcapas in O.E. Chron. an. 1070: see cantel-cape. The ME. forms might be from ON. kápa, but this is an unlikely source. The phonetic series L. cāpa, OE. cápe, ME. cape, cope, mod. cope, Sc. cape, caip, is parallel to L. pāpa, OE. pápa, ME. pape, pope, mod. pope, Sc. pape, paip.]
†1.
a. A long cloak or cape worn as an outer garment, chiefly out of doors. Obs. Cf. cape.
(By the 16th c. translators used to render χλαµύς and toga.)
c1205Lay. 7782 A cniht mid his capen. c1275― On cniht mid his cope. 1393Gower Conf. II. 46 A route Of ladies..In kirtles and in copes riche They weren clothed alle aliche. 1466Paston Lett. No. 549 II. 270 Cloth for a ridyng cope for himself. 1535Coverdale Isa. xxx. 22 Yf ye destroye the syluer workes of youre Idols, and cast awaye the golden coapes that ye deckt them withall. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. (1877) 27 (D.) Xantippe had pulled awaie her housebandes cope from his backe, even in the open strete. Ibid. 47 The side robe or cope of homely and course clothe soche as the beggerie philosophiers, and none els vsen to weare. 1575Brieff Disc. Troubl. Franckford (1846) 203 Copes and garments as well for the common use as for the ministerie. 1745Baker Don Quix. I. i. v. 31 This curious Cap and his fine brocard Cope will make him outshine the Sun-Dial.
†b. As the special dress of a monk or friar. Obs.
(quire cope = cappa choralis.)
a1225Ancr. R. 56 Ȝif he haueð enne widne hod & one ilokene cope. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 227/274 Monekes it weren ech-on, And yreuested faire and in queor-copes. c1315Shoreham 110 Under couele and cope The foule prede lythe. c1386Chaucer Prol. 262 Ffor there he [the Frere] was nat lyk a Cloystrer With a thredbare cope as is a poure scoler. c1394P. Pl. Crede 292 Seyn þat þey folwen fully Fraunceses rewle, Þat in cotynge of his cope is more cloþ y-folden Þan was in Fraunces froc. c1400Rom. Rose 7412 Doen on the cope of a frere.
c. In the University of Cambridge, a cape or tippet of ermine worn by doctors of divinity on certain special occasions.
1798A. Wall Ceremonies Univ. Camb. (1828) 39 The Vice-Chancellor is in his cope. Ibid. 80 After the Service, they return to the Vestry, where the Doctors in Divinity change their copes for their Scarlet gowns, and the Proctors their Congregation habit for their hoods squared.
2. Eccl. A vestment of silk or other material resembling a long cloak made of a semicircular piece of cloth, worn by ecclesiastics in processions, also at Vespers, and on some other occasions.[1868Marriott Vest. Chr. 167 The name pluviale..and ..cappa, and our own cope point to the origin of the vestment as originally worn out of doors as a protection from the weather.] c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 134/954 Þo seint thomas hadde is masse i-songue his chesible he gan of weue; All is oþur uestimenz, on him he let bi-leue..A-boue he caste is cope. 1382Wyclif Wisd. xviii. 24 In the clothing of the preest coepe, that he hadde, was al the roundnesse of erthis. c1460Churchw. Acc. St. Andrew's, East Cheap (in Brit. Mag. XXXI. 397), For amendyng of Coopis & vestimentts xvjd. 1527in Pocock Rec. Ref. I. xxvi. 54 Four of the doctors prebendaries of the said Paules in coppes and grey amys. 1549Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion Rubric, The Priest..shall put upon hym the vesture appointed for that ministration, that is to say, a white Albe plain, with a vestment or Cope. 1562Paper prepared for Synod in Strype Ann. Ref. I. xxvii. 318 That the vse of vestments, copes and surplices, be from henceforth taken away. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 300 A most solemne marche, and pompous procession: wherein..there wanted neither Coape nor Canapie. 1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. 84 Coapes and costly vestments decke the hoarsest and beggerlyest singing-man. 1603Const. & Canons Eccles. No. 24 Copes to be worn in cathedral churches by those that administer the Communion. 1625Purchas Pilgrims ii. 1409 After them came..Friers in their rich Coapes singing, carrying many Pictures and Lights. 1629P. Smart Treat. Altars 8 If we doe, then may we also admit to the administration of the holy Communion, instead of decent Copes, ridiculous piebald vestments. 1838Coronation Service in Maskell Mon. Rit. (1847) III. 88 The Archbishop goeth to the Altar and puts on his Cope. 1885Catholic Dict. s.v., The cope is used in processions by those who assist the celebrant, by cantors at vespers, etc., so that it is by no means a distinctively sacerdotal vestment.
¶ Often erroneously used as a historical term, where chasuble or pallium would be correct as a matter of fact.
1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Casulla, a cope for a priest, læna. 1826Milman A. Boleyn (1827) 13, I saw the Arch⁓heretic, enrobed In the cope and pall of mitred Canterbury, Lift the dread Host with misbelieving hands. 1862H. Marryat Year in Sweden I. 311 He arranged..that the Swedish primate should receive the cope, sent by the pontiff, from the hands of her archbishop.
†3. A cover for a table, a table-cloth. Obs. rare.
c1450Bk. Curtasye 690 in Babees Bk. 322 At aþer ende he [the pantere] castes a cope Layde downe on borde, the endys plyed up.
4. fig. (In cope of night, the primary notion was app. ‘cloak’; but in later use, that of ‘canopy’ or ‘vault’ appears to be sometimes present; cf. sense 7.)
1393Gower Conf. II. 101 This Yris..Her reiny cope did upon. c1400Test. Love i. (1560) 275 b/1 The cope of tene is wound about all my body. 1430Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxiii, Night aprocheth with his coopes dunne. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 45 Whom though you..enriche with a great dower of wordes, and decke with gay copes of sentences. 1704Addison Poems, Campaign Misc. Wks. 1726 I. 74 Till the dark cope of night with kind embrace, Befriends the rout and covers their disgrace. a1843Southey Inscriptions xxv, The second night drew over them Its sheltering cope. 1866Alger Solit. Nat. & Man iv. 282 Under the cope of midnight.
†5. cope of lead: a leaden coffin. Obs.
Only Sc.: usually in form cape, caip.
c1450Henryson in Bannatyne Poems 135 And to the deid, to lurk vnder thy caip, I offer me with hairt richt humily. 1536Bellenden Chron. Scot. xvi. xix, He miserabilly deceasit, and wes brocht in ane caip of leid in [= into] Ingland. a1572Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. (1846) I. 179 It was thowght best, to keap him frome styncking, to geve him great salt ynewcht, [and] a cope of lead.
†6. A covering of vaulted form; a vault. Obs.
1483Caxton G. de la Tour L v b, They [two quenes] were take and putte under a grete and heuy coope of lede, and there they deyd of an euylle dethe. 1578Banister Hist. Man iv. 62 The vi [muscle]..runneth vnder the coope, or vaulte of the wrest of the hand.
7. a. cope of heaven: the over-arching canopy or vault of heaven. Cf. canopy 2 b, vault.
under the cope of heaven = ‘under heaven, in all the world’: an exceedingly common phrase from 14th to 18th c.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 3 Oþer housis hadde he noon but þis wildernesse and cope [v.r. coope] of hevene. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1527 (Hyps. & Medea) Undyr the cope of heven that is above. 1460Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 97 The grettest Clerke..vnder heuen cope. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxvii. 574 Ther is not your leke vnder the cope of heven. 1549Compl. Scot. Ded. 3 The maist vailȝeant princis that ar vndir the cape of hauyn. 1571Campion Hist. Irel. ii. ix. (1633) 115, I serve under the cope of heaven, when you are served under a Canopy. 1591Spenser M. Hubberd 1228 Whatso the heauen in his wide cope containes. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xiv. vi. 10 From all parts of the wide world..within the cope and curtaine of heaven. c1611Chapman Iliad v. 773 Betwixt the cope of stars and earth. 1666Bunyan Grace Abounding (1879) 389 Whether there be..a Woman breathing under the Copes of the whole Heaven. 1771T. Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 106 Without any other cover than the cope of heaven. 1829H. Neele Lit. Rem. 314 The arch of Heaven's wide cope. 1880Swinburne Stud. Song 38 Darkening the sky To the extreme azure of all its cloudless cope.
b. Also simply the cope.
1596Spenser Hymn Hon. Love 95 All these things that are contained Within this goodly cope. 1608Shakes. Per. iv. vi. 132 The cheapest country under the cope. 1657Cokaine Obst. Lady ii. i, The most insatiable gluttons under the Cope. 1735Thomson Liberty iv. 1177 Exalted as the cope That swells immense o'er many-peopled earth. 1827Pollock Course of T. x, The cope, above and round about, was calm. 1867G. Macdonald Songs of Summer Days iv. ii, Slow clouds from north and south appear..And climb the vaulted cope.
¶c. In later usage, apparently, vaguely used for (a) vertex, height (as if confused with cop); (b) firmament, expanse.
1603Breton Post w. Packet Lett., Of Love, Sweete Ladie, If the reach of my capacitie could clime the Cope of your favoure. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 68 Not from the temporall skie and firmament, but even from the highest Cope of heaven. 1730Thomson Autumn 25 From heaven's high cope the fierce effulgence shook.
1816Coleridge Lay Serm. 343 He..can as little appropriate it..as he can claim ownership in the breathing air, or make an inclosure in the cope of heaven. 1830Tennyson Poems 81 Larks in heaven's cope Sing.
d. A vault or canopy like that of the sky.
1658Marvell Poems, Appleton House, Under this Attic cope I move. 1667Milton P.L. i. 345 Bad Angels seen Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell. Ibid. vi. 215 So under fierie Cope together rush'd Both Battels maine. 1847Longfellow Ev. ii. ii. 79 Over them, vast and high, extended the cope of a cedar.
8. Founding. The outer portion or case of a mould; the outer mould in bell-founding.
1856Penny Post Nov. (Ellacombe), In the case of the large Westminster bell, the cope was of iron, with the interior covered with a composition of clay and sand, etc. 1857W. C. Lukis Acc. Ch. Bells 21 The outer mould or cope is formed. 1872Ellacombe Ch. Bells Devon 200 The cope fitted over the core, like an extinguisher over a candle, with a vacuum left between them to receive the fused metal. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss. s.v. Drag., The mould having been prepared in the two parts of the flask, the cope is put upon the drag before casting. After casting, the flask is opened by removing the cope. 1889Notes Building Constr. III. 269 The outer brick cope..is..lifted away.
†9. A superficial deposit considered as a covering or coating of the stratum beneath: cf. coping.
1631Markham Weald of Kent ii. i. 7 Some of them [marls] have over them a cover of ground, which we call Cope. Ibid., A cold stiff and wet clay, which is either the Cope of the Marl or lieth near unto it..commonly called The Marl Cope ground.
10. The coping of a wall, etc. (dial. cape).
1847–78Halliwell, Cape, the coping of a wall. 1877E. Peacock N.W. Linc. Gloss., Cape, Capeing, the coping-stones of a wall or other building. 1880L. Wallace Ben-Hur 351 Solid wall..with a balustrade on its cope.
11. Comb. (sense 2), as cope-chest, cope-maker, cope-work; cope bead (see quot.); cope-box, a box for holding copes, a cope-chest.
1551–60Invent. Sir H. Parkers in Hall Elizabeth. Soc. (1887) 151 A Tester of blewe and white velvett, panyd & embroderid with Cope worcke of gould. 1628Canterbury Marriage Licences (MS.), John Salter of Canterbury cope-maker. 1865Athenæum No. 1941. 24/2 Armoire, cope-chest, stalls. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 163 The mediæval quadrant-shaped cope-chests. 1885Spon's Mechanic's Own Bk. 374 The other drawers..receive a 1/8-in. mahogany beading all round. This is called a ‘cope bead’. 1893T. Fowler Hist. C.C.C. 246 A Cope-box purchased for the College.
▪ II. † cope, n.2 Obs.
[Either f. cope v.2, or immediately a. F. coup, OF. also colp, cop, blow, stroke, shock, etc.]
The shock of combat; encounter. Also fig.
1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxviii. [clxiv.] 469 They ran togyder and met so rudely yt their horses stayed with y⊇ cope. Ibid. 475 The seconde cope they attaynted eche other on the helmes that the fyre flewe oute. 1594Sec. Rep. Dr. Faustus in Thoms Prose Rom. (1858) III. 408 In the cope all the four Janisaries were run quite thorow and thorow. 1653Urquhart Rabelais Prol., Books..in the cope and encounter somewhat difficult. Ibid. (1859) I. 181 He fought at barriers..and when it came to the cope, he stood so sturdily on his feet. 1773J. Ross Fratricide iv. 310 (MS.) Bent on the signal cope and steel'd with guilt.
†b. to gain cope of: to gain the advantage over.
c1610T. Adams Wks. (1861) I. 350 (D.) We should gain cope of them, and outrun them.
▪ III. cope, n.3 Obs. or dial.
[f. cope v.3: cf. cheap n.]
†1. A bargain. good cope: cf. good cheap, F. bon marché. Obs.
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 77 The Ducheman saieth, that segging is good cope. c1590Greene Fr. Bacon Wks. (Rtldg.) 157/1 Maids, when they come to see the fair, Count not to make a cope for dearth of hay.
†2. God's cope: a proverbial expression for a very large sum. Obs. [App. belongs here.]
1520Whitinton Vulg. (1527) 13 He wolde spende goddes cope [Tantaleas opes] yf he had it. 1532Dice Play (Percy Soc.) 27 He that will not stoop a dodkin at the dice, per chaunce at cardes will spend God's cope. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 72 He will spende Goddes coope if he had it.
3. Derbyshire Mines. A duty paid by the miner for permission to raise lead-ore. [See quot. 1747, and cope v.3 4.]
1631Star Chamb. Cases (Camden) 91 The said Mr Carrier..had likewise taken a farme or lease of the tythe oare, called the lott and cope, from his Majestie, under the seale of the Dutchy of Lancaster. a1661Fuller Worthies i. 229 The Lord for Lot, hath the thirteenth dish of Oar, within their Mine, and six pence a load for Cope. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. F j, Any Miner is said to have a Groove [= digging, mine] or Cope, when he takes the said Groove or Bargain to get or raise the Ore, at a certain Price per Load, for some certain time. 1815Farey View Agric. Derbyshire I. 365 In the measuring of [Lead] Ore at present, every 25th Dish..is taken..as the King's Lot, Cope, or Duty. 1851Act 14 & 15 Vict. c. 94. §9 (High Peak Customs Act) The Lessee for the Time being of the Duties of Lot and Cope.
4. Comb., as cope-money.
1815Farey View Agric. Derbyshire I. 366 It is not customary for the owners to advance any of the Cope-money on account.
▪ IV. † cope, cop, n.4 Obs.
[Derivation and proper form unknown.]
(See quots.)
In quot. 1577 cops is app. the plural of this word; but this is uncertain, as it translates a Latin singular temonem.
1577Holinshed Chron. I. 26/2 They [Britons] would run up and downe verie nimblie upon the Cops, and stand upon the beame [Cæsar per temonem percurrere et in iugo instare], and convey themselves quickly again into the charet. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. viii. 335 The Waine Cop, is the long peece that cometh out from the Cart body to which the Oxen are fastned. 1704Worlidge Dict. Rust. s.v. Cart, 2. The Wain Cope, that part which the hinder Oxen are yoaked unto to draw the Wain..16. The Cope Sale and Pin, are Irons that fasten the Chain with other Oxen thereat, to the end of the Cope. [Hence 1727 in Bradley Fam. Dict., 1730–6 Bailey fol., 1823 Univ. Techn. Dict., etc., etc., s.v. Cope-sale.] 1847Halliwell, Cop, the beam that is placed between a pair of drawing oxen. [No source or locality given.]
▪ V. cope, v.1|kəʊp|
[f. cope n.1, in various unconnected senses.]
1. trans. To furnish with or dress in a cope. † to cope it: to put on a cope (obs.).
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 36 Þenne com þer a Confessour i-copet as a Frere. Ibid. 138 For heo copeþ þe Comissarie and coteþ þe Clerkes. 1575Brieff Disc. Troubl. Franckford (1642) 167 Such as are turne-coates, and can change with all Seasons..can cap it, can cope it, and curry for advantage. [See also coped.]
2. Arch. To cover (a wall, etc.) with a coping.
1665in 10th Rep. Comm. Hist. MSS. v. App. 4 That upper part of the said wall which hath bine since made and coped by other men at day-work. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Wall, Brick-Walls..are sometimes coped with Stone, and sometimes with Brick. 1788Trans. Soc. Encourag. Arts VI. 5 Stone fences, of a proper height coped with two turfs. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxi. (1856) 162 The mounds..were..coped and defended with limestone slabs. 1884Law Times Rep. LI. 230/2 That A.B. do back and cope a hundred rods of their wall by Christmas next.
fig.a1625Boys Wks. (1630) 843 For though he may..blinde the Bishop and cope [? hoodwink] the Commissarie, yet Gods all-seeing eye..findeth out his foule follie.
b. To cover a ridge or ‘hip’ on a roof with a metal or other coping to carry off rain, etc.
1792Phil. Trans. LXX. 358 There are eight hips, all of which are covered or coped with lead.
c. transf. and fig. To cover as, or as with, a coping; to form a coping to.
1842Blackw. Mag. LII. 402 Behold, where olive-thickets cope The soft and emerald-tinted slope Of sacred Scilus. 1879Butcher & Lang Odyssey 222 With stones dragged thither had he builded it and coped it with a fence of white thorn. 1890H. M. Stanley Darkest Africa II. xxx. 292 Tufted clumps of trees..coping some turret-like crag.
3. To cover as with a vault or canopy.
1704Addison Italy 485 A very large Bridge, that is all made of Wood, and coped over Head, like the rest in Switzerland. 1821J. Baillie Met. Leg., Colum xii, Midnight coped the ocean wide. 1856T. Aird Poet Wks. 240 The sympathetic heavens Coping this isle of mischief.
4. Gardening. To protect (wall-fruit) by an overhanging coping, or sloping shelf-like projection.
1882The Garden 11 Feb. 105/3 Apricots..may be coped and poled. Ibid. 18 Mar. 187/1 Well coped, but otherwise exposed trees.
5. intr. To slope downwards or hang over like a coping.
1601Holland Pliny xxv. xiii. (R.), Some bending downe and coping toward the earth, others standing upright. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 159 Coping over, is a sort of hanging over, but not square to its upright. 1876Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. s.v. Coping, The sofite of a projection is said to cope over when it slants downwards from the wall.
▪ VI. cope, v.2|kəʊp|
Forms: 4–6 coup(e, 5 (Destr. Troy) caup, cawp, 6–7 coap(e, 5– cope.
[a. F. couper, in OF. colper, coper, couper to strike (now to cut), f. OF. colp, cop, coup blow:—med.L. colpus, colapus:—L. colaphus blow with the fist: see coup.]
I. intr. (without with).
†1. To strike; to come to blows, encounter, join battle, engage, meet in the shock of battle or tournament. (Often with together.) Obs.
c1350[see coping vbl. n.1]. c1400Destr. Troy 7231 [Thay] coupid to-gedur. Ibid. 6486 Thay caupit at the knight, kene men of armys. Ibid. 7775 Þai caupit togedur That bothe were backward þere borne of þere horses. a1471Chron. Rich. II, etc. (Camden 1856) 8 The erl of Penbroke was slayn with that other knyghtis speer, as he cast it from him whanne thay hadde coupid. 1485Caxton Paris & V. (1868) 18 And coped togyder so fyersly they breke theyr speres. 1519W. Horman Vulg. 261 Both the hostis wolde fayne haue..copt together [properabat comittere]. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxviii. [clxiv.] 468 The thyrde course their horses refused and wolde nat cope. 1598Greneway Tacitus' Ann. ii. iii. (1622) 36 They had coped, if Stertinius had not runne in, and held backe Flauius. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. viii. vii. (1632) 424 Foot to foot, and man to man, coped together in a most cruell fight. 1725Pope Odyss. xviii. 65 Swear to stand neutral, while we cope in fight.
fig.1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 616/1 Euerye chylde may see howe lothe he is to come nere and cope. 1755Garrick On Johnson's Dict. in Boswell an. 1755 In satires, epistles, and odes would they cope.
II. cope with.
†2. To come to blows with, engage, encounter, contend, fight with. Obs. or arch. (exc. as in 3).
c1400Destr. Troy 1262 One caupet with hym kenely..And set hym a sad dynt. a1467Gregory Chron. (1876) 219 He wolde nevyr cope whithe no man. 1548Hall Chron. 175 b, He neither would nor durst once medle or coupe with the Erles navie. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. xiii. vi. (1622) 186 One Iulius Montanus..by chance coping with the Prince in the darke, and rudely thrusting him backe. 1640Yorke Union Hon. 45 Hee also unhorsed..a Valiant Knight, and at last coped with Earle Henry himselfe. 1660E. Hickeringill Jamaica (1661) 42 The Spaniards never durst cope with our men in the plain field. 1774J. Bryant Mythol. II. 47 He slew every person who ventured to cope with him. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 15 Woe to the wretch whose single might Copes with dark Allan in the fight!
3. To contend with in a well-matched fight, to contest the field with, to be or prove oneself a match for. (Usually with can, able to, or the like.)
a. in a lit. contest or battle.
1583Stanyhurst Aeneis i. (Arb.) 33 A lucklesse stripling, not a matche too coape with Achilles. 1710Addison Whig Exam. No. 3 ⁋4 They have not been able to cope with the troops of Athens. 1777J. Sullivan in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) II. 63 If your Excellency thinks your force sufficient to Cope with his. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. x. 501 It would be impossible to gather an army able to cope with the insurgents.
b. in a fig. contest.
1651N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. xxvi. (1739) 117 None must cope with him, he must run and out-run all. 1684tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. x. 347 The onely [remedy]..able to cope with so stout an Enemy. 1711C. Davenant Acc. Trade Gt. Brit. 67 To be in a lasting Condition to Cope with the Dutch in Trade. 1782F. Burney Diary Nov., His being too unwell to cope with Dr. Johnson. 1812Byron Ch. Har. ii. xxxiv, Brisk Confidence still best with woman copes. 1875Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Greatness Wks. (Bohn) III. 270 Let the scholar measure his valour by his power to cope with intellectual giants.
4. a. fig. To contend with, face, encounter (dangers, difficulties, etc.). Often implying successful encounter.
1641Milton Ch. Govt. ii. iii, Two heads of evil he has to cope with, ignorance and malice. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World (1757) 327 The difficulties and hazards we had to cope with. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 16 He was..little qualified to cope with the hardships of a new manufacturing enterprise. 1850Prescott Peru II. 83 His nature was too gentle to cope with the bold and fiercer temper of his brother. 1850Robertson Serm. iii. i. (1872) 8 The work of coping with evil. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. v. 293 Unfit to cope with the problems.
b. absol. To manage, deal (competently) with, a situation or problem. colloq. (Cf. manage v. 11 b.)
1934E. Bowen Cat Jumps 248 Angela rang the bell wildly for someone to come and cope. 1955Essays in Criticism V. 62 More confidence might be placed in the writer did we not find on the same page a typical shift of tone to this, on Romeo and Juliet: ‘the kids get involved in a lively way, but then they cannot cope.’ 1958I. Brown Words in our Time 41 ‘She suffers from copelessness.’ I have heard this said of an unsatisfactory employee. The use of cope as a verb by itself to describe dealing with all kinds of situations is a recent usage. In my youth we tried, or were told to try, to cope with this or that problem. We were not required to cope in general.
†5. To meet with; to come into contact, touch, or relation with; to have to do with. Obs. or arch.
1593Shakes. Lucr. 99 But she, that never coped with stranger eyes, Could pick no meaning from their parling looks. 1602― Ham. iii. ii. 60 As iust a man As ere my Conuersation coap'd withall. 1611― Wint. T. iv. iv. 435 Thou, fresh peece Of excellent Witchcraft, who of force must know The royall Foole thou coap'st with. 1640Brome Sparagus Gard. ii. v, His malice works upon me, Past all the drugs and all the Doctors Counsells, That ere I cop'd with. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 84 If we our selves were not body as well as soul, our understandings would never have coped with such a thing as placeness or stowage at all. 1822Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. iii. (1869) 75 A heartier friend or honester critic I never coped withal. 1865Swinburne Poems & Ball., At Eleusis 101 How as mate He coped with Hades, yokefellow in sin.
III. trans.
†6. to cope blows: see quot. Obs.
1569J. Sandford tr. Agrippa's Van. Artes 125 b, This Arte [War]..dothe trimly teache to cope blowes, to auoyde them that be geuen, or to warde them with the buckler.
†7. To meet, meet with, come into contact (hostile or friendly) with. Obs.
1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 888 Finding their enemie to be so curst, They all straine curt'sie who shall cope him first. 1600― A.Y.L. ii. i. 67. 1604 ― Oth. iv. i. 87 Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when He hath, and is againe to cope your wife. 1606― Tr. & Cr. i. ii. 34 They say he yesterday cop'd Hector in the battell and stroke him downe. 1603Florio Montaigne (1632) 489 His [Cupid's] power checketh and copes all other might.
†8. To meet or match (a thing) with (an equivalent). Obs. rare. Cf. recoup.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 412 Most worthy gentleman..Three thousand Ducats due vnto the Iew We freely cope your curteous paines withall.
9. To be a match for, face, encounter (cf. 4). rare.
1872Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 1144 Saving that you mistrusted our good King Would..yield you, asking, one Not fit to cope your quest.
▪ VII. cope, v.3 Obs. exc. dial.|kəʊp|
Forms: 5–6 copen, 6–9 cope, 7 dial. coop.
[Of. LG. origin; used by Lydgate as Flemish: cf. MDu. côpen, Du. koopen, LG. kôpen to buy, to traffic, buy and sell, exchange, barter; for the ulterior etymology, see cheap v., which is the native Eng. form. Cf. also coup v. from Norse kaupa, the senses of which run parallel to those of cope, so that it is often treated as merely a northern dialect form of this verb.]
†1. trans. To buy. Obs.
c1430Lydg. Min. Poems, London Lyckpeny vii, Flemynges began on me for to cry, ‘Master, what will you copen or by?’ 1570Levins Manip. 170/1 To cope, cambire, emere. 1599(title) Key to vnknowne knowledge, or a shop of fiue Windowes, Which if you doe open To cheapen and copen.
2. To exchange, barter. cope away: to give away in exchange, to barter away. dial.
1570[see 1]. 1584R. W. Three Ladies Lond. in Hazl. Dodsley VI. 331 Have you any olde bootes Or any olde shoone..To cope with new broome? 1638Heywood Wise Woman iii. Wks. 1874 V. 314 If a man might change away his Wife..and cope her away like a bad commoditie. 1674Ray S. & E.C. Words 62 Cope, to chop or exchange, used by the Coasters of Norfol. Suffol. &c. [ed. 1691 as also in Yorkshire]. 1887E. J. Mather Nor'ard of Dogger iii. 37 I've seen scores of nets coped away for brandy.
†3. intr. To make an exchange, make a bargain.
1575Fulke Conf. Purg. (1577) 371 You say we might..haue coped for one of those Lyturgies, if we liked not Gregories Masse, rather then to haue forged a new. 1591Spenser M. Hubberd 527 [The Patron] Will cope with thee in reasonable wise; That if the living yerely doo arise To fortie pound, that then his yongest sonne Shall twentie have, and twentie thou hast wonne. 1614T. Gentleman Eng. Way to Wealth in Arb. Garner IV. 345 And bringeth them Gold and fresh supplies, and copeth with them.
4. Derbyshire Mines. ‘To agree to get ore at a fixed sum per dish or measure.’
1802J. Mawe Min. Derbysh. Gloss.
▪ VIII. cope, v.4 Falconry.|kəʊp|
[app. a. F. coper, couper in its later sense ‘to cut’. Cf. cope v.2]
trans. To cut, pare, the beak or talons of a hawk.
1575Turberv. Falconrie 78 Coping yrons to cope his hawkes beake if it be overgrowen, and to cope hir pownces and talons, if neede be. 1614Markham Cheap Husb. viii. viii. (1668) 130 If you break or rive her pounce, or but coape it so short that she bleed..yet it will indanger her life. 1619E. Bert Treat. Hawkes 67 Let her be short-coped, so I would advise all short-winged hawkes to be used. 1674N. Cox Gent. Recreat. ii. (1706) 77. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports 244 The beak and talons should be closely coped.
▪ IX. cope, v.5 Obs. or dial.
Also 7 coap, coupe.
[Derivation uncertain; sometimes referred to coop v.1]
trans. To tie or sew up the mouth of (a ferret); also fig. of a person. Const. up.
1601Deacon & Walker Spirits & Divels 214 It shall not be amisse to cope vp your lips a little. 1612T. Taylor Comm. Titus ii. 9 Neither are they here coped from all manner of speach, when iust occasion of speach is offred. 1625Gonsalvio's Sp. Inquis. 105 By this their so strait enjoy[n]ing them silence..they cope them with needle and threed and so keep in all their knauary and tyranny. 1631Dekker Match mee iv. Wks. 1873. IV. 193 Your lips coap'd like a ferret. 1631R. Brathwait Whimzies 99 His nimble ferrets must now become pioners for their master who coupes them. 1672Eachard Hobbs' State Nat. 86 Roger has a vocal organ..called a mouth, and being not muzled, gagg'd, or cop'd..may stretch it as wide as he pleases. a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Cope. The use of this word is confined to warreners, who are said to ‘cope’ their ferrets, when they sew or tie up their mouths, to prevent them from biting rabbits, when they..drive them from their holes.
▪ X. † cope, v.6 Obs.
[cf. cop v.2: but perh. an error for wipe; the Fr. original has assuyer les larmes.]
trans.
1647W. Browne Polexander i. 166 The Old Narcissus..lifted his hands to his eies to cope thence his teares. |