lope

[lohp]

verb (used without object)

loped, loping 

1. to move or run with bounding steps, as a quadruped, or with a long, easy stride, as a person.

2. to canter leisurely with a rather long, easy stride, as a horse.

verb (used with object)

loped, loping 

1. to cause to lope, as a horse.

noun

1. the act or the gait of loping.

2. a long, easy stride.

lope

/ ləʊp /

verb

1. (intr) (of a person) to move or run with a long swinging stride

2. (intr) (of four-legged animals) to run with a regular bounding movement

3. to cause (a horse) to canter with a long easy stride or (of a horse) to canter in this manner

noun

1. a long steady gait or stride

Other Word Forms

• loper noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lope¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English verb lopen, loupen, laupen “to jump, leap,” from Old Norse hlaupa; leap, loup ² ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of lope¹

C15: from Old Norse hlaupa to _leap ; compare Middle Dutch lopen to run

Example Sentences

And although his style looks easy, like he’s loping to the library, it’s profoundly efficient.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Adam Wharton is surely an England regular in the making, the loping socks-down style not disguising an elegant, competitive midfield operator of the highest order.

Read more on BBC

His long, loping stride ratcheted up in rhythm over the final two laps, squeezing lungs and fraying rivals' form behind him.

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It was Wayne — America’s biggest movie star, the self-reliant enforcer, the loping lawman who set the world to rights by virtue of his unbending fortitude.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But soon his sprint slows and his legs start to lope as his arms swing with less force.

Read more on New York Times

Related Words

• gallop 
• trot