moped

[moh-ped]

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noun

a motorized bicycle that has pedals in addition to a low-powered gasoline engine designed for low-speed operation.

Origin of moped

1955–60; < German, ultimately < Swedish (trampcykel med) mo(tor och) ped(aler) pedal cycle with engine and pedals

mope

[mohp]

verb (used without object), moped, mop·ing.

to be sunk in dejection or listless apathy; sulk; brood.

verb (used with object), moped, mop·ing.

to make dejected, listless, or apathetic.

noun

a person who mopes or is given to moping.

mopes, depressed spirits; blues.

Origin of mope

First recorded in 1560–70; variant of mop²

Related formsmop·er, nounmop·ing·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for moped

brood, sulk, chafe, despond, grumble, regret, grump, lament, repine, grieve, yearn, pine, moon, idle, despair, sink, ache, languish, bleed, fret

Examples from the Web for moped

Historical Examples of moped

The boy, whenever he was not doing anything, moped in the house.
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad
Poor, honest Fido, how lonesome he was and how he moped about!
A Little Book of Profitable Tales
Eugene Field
Thereupon he drank and moped for a week, and then hanged himself.
Under Western Eyes
Joseph Conrad
And he gloomed and moped and was an object of private mirth to Judge Enderby.
Little Miss Grouch
Samuel Hopkins Adams
I am sure Marcus would say so; and then I am certain you would be moped to death.
Doctor Luttrell's First Patient
Rosa Nouchette Carey

British Dictionary definitions for moped

moped

noun

British a light motorcycle, not over 50cc

Word Origin for moped

C20: from motor + pedal 1, originally equipped with auxiliary pedals

mope

verb (intr)

to be gloomy or apatheticthere's no time to mope

to move or act in an aimless wayhe moped around the flat

noun

a gloomy person

Word Origin for mope

C16: perhaps from obsolete mope fool and related to mop ²

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

Word Origin and History for moped

1956, from Swedish (c.1952), from (trampcykel med) mo(tor och) ped(aler) "pedal cycle with engine and pedals" (the earliest versions had auxiliary pedals). Cf. obsolete English mo-bike (1925), from motor bicycle.

mope

1560s, "to move and act unconsciously;" 1580s, "to be listless and apathetic," the sound of the word perhaps somehow suggestive of low feelings (cf. Low German mopen "to sulk," Dutch moppen "to grumble, to grouse," Danish maabe, dialectal Swedish mopa "to mope"). Related: Moped; moping; mopey; mopish.