cope
1to struggle or deal, especially on fairly even terms or with some degree of success (usually followed by with): The new heating and cooling system can cope with extremes of temperature much better than the old one.
to face and deal with responsibilities, problems, or difficulties, especially successfully or in a calm or adequate manner: After his breakdown he couldn't cope any longer.
Archaic. to come into contact; meet (usually followed by with).
British Informal. to cope with.
Obsolete. to come into contact with; encounter.
Origin of cope
1word story For cope
The spelling colaphus (with a -ph- ) shows that the Latin word is a borrowing from Greek kólaphos, and not a high-class one, either: colaphus occurs mostly in the comedies of Plautus and Terence, and in Greek kólaphos occurs only once, as a nickname for a boy’s gym trainer, in a surviving fragment of a work by the 5th-century b.c. comic playwright Epicharmus. The famed 18th-century English dictionary writer Samuel Johnson would certainly call kólaphos “a low word,” and it is a little amazing that it survived so long in Greek, then was borrowed into Latin and into Romance, and then into English.
By the mid-17th century, cope had acquired the sense “to struggle or deal on fairly even terms or with some degree of success.” The modern sense “to face and deal with responsibilities, problems, or difficulties successfully and calmly; manage” dates from the mid-1930s.
Other words for cope
Other words from cope
- copeless, adjective
- cope·less·ness, noun
Other definitions for cope (2 of 4)
a long mantle, especially of silk, worn by ecclesiastics over the alb or surplice in processions and on other occasions.
any cloaklike or canopylike covering.
the sky.
a coping on a wall.
Metallurgy. the upper half of a flask.: Compare drag (def. 35).
to furnish with or as if with a cope or coping.
Origin of cope
2Other definitions for cope (3 of 4)
Building Trades.
to join (two molded wooden members) by undercutting the end of one of them to the profile of the other so that the joint produced resembles a miter joint (usually followed by in or together).
to form (a joint between such members) in this way.
to undercut the end of (a molded wooden member) in order to form a coped joint.
to cut away (a flange of a metal member) so that it may be joined to another member at an angle.
Falconry. to clip or dull (the beak or talons of a hawk).
Origin of cope
3Other definitions for cope (4 of 4)
Origin of cope
4Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for cope (1 of 4)
/ (kəʊp) /
(intr foll by with) to contend (against)
(intr) to deal successfully with or handle a situation; manage: she coped well with the problem
(tr) archaic
to deal with
to meet in battle
Origin of cope
1British Dictionary definitions for cope (2 of 4)
/ (kəʊp) /
a large ceremonial cloak worn at solemn liturgical functions by priests of certain Christian sects
any covering shaped like a cope
(tr) to dress (someone) in a cope
Origin of cope
2British Dictionary definitions for cope (3 of 4)
/ (kəʊp) /
to provide (a wall) with a coping
to join (two moulded timber members)
another name for coping
Origin of cope
3British Dictionary definitions for COPE (4 of 4)
/ (kəʊp) /
Congress of the People: a political party founded in 2008 by dissident members of the ANC
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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