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mope

[mohp]
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verb (used without object), moped, mop·ing.
  1. to be sunk in dejection or listless apathy; sulk; brood.
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verb (used with object), moped, mop·ing.
  1. to make dejected, listless, or apathetic.
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noun
  1. a person who mopes or is given to moping.
  2. mopes, depressed spirits; blues.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for moping

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • He was not moping—only weakly and even when looking a little sad, was quite happy.

    Weighed and Wanting

    George MacDonald

  • For one thing, there was plenty of hard work to keep my mind from moping.

    In the Valley

    Harold Frederic

  • I couldn't help him none, and he went away, moping and miserable.

    Cape Cod Stories

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • It has been a glorious day and, if you had come in moping, I should have given you up as hopeless.

  • Edward had no time for moping discontent, for revenge, or anger.

British Dictionary definitions for moping

mope

verb (intr)
  1. to be gloomy or apatheticthere's no time to mope
  2. to move or act in an aimless wayhe moped around the flat
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noun
  1. a gloomy person
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See also mopes
Derived Formsmoper, nounmopy, adjective

Word Origin

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 moping

mope

v.

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.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper