ope

• (UK) IPA^(key): /əʊp/

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• enPR: ōp
• Rhymes: -əʊp

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

ope (plural opes)

1. (Cornwall) alley or narrow passage e.g. Tonkin's Ope

Representing oh pronounced with the mouth snapped closed at the end (excrescent /p/). Compare yep, yup, nope, and welp.
Alternatively, from Russian оп (op), shortened form of Greek όπα (ópa).

ope

1. (Midwest) an exclamation of surprise; oops

   Ope! Sorry about that.

Specific to the Midwestern United States but used elsewhere in American English.[1]

From Middle English ope (“open”), shortened form of open, from Old English open (“open”). More at open.

ope (comparative more ope, superlative most ope)

1. (now dialectal or poetic) Open. [from 13th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.6:

     Arriving there, as did by chaunce befall, / He found the gate wyde ope […] .

   • 1819, John Keats, Otho the Great, Act 5, Scene 5, verses 191-192:

     We are all weary — faint — set ope the doors —
     I will to bed! — To-morrow —

   • [1633], George Herbert, [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple: Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], OCLC 1048966979; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, […], 1885, OCLC 54151361:

     On Sunday heaven's gate stands ope.

ope (third-person singular simple present opes, present participle oping, simple past and past participle oped)

1. (archaic, transitive, intransitive) To open.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Ere I ope his letter, / I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth.

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:

     The hour's now come, the very minute bids thee ope thine ear; obey and be attentive.

   • 1842, Robert Browning, The Pied Piper of Hamelin

     There came into many a burgher's pate / A text which says that heaven's gate / Opes to the rich at as easy rate / As the needle's eye takes a camel in!

• EPO, EoP, PEO, POE, Poe, peo., poe, poë

• IPA^(key): /ope/, [o̞.pe̞]

From ot- (combining form of ogi (“bread”)) +‎ mehe (“thin”), itself from Proto-Basque *bene.

ope inan

1. (rare) flatbread
   • 1808, Juan Bautista Aguirre, Eracusaldiac [Lessons], Tolosa, published 1850, page 381:

     Beguiratu zuan Profetac, cer ote zan Aingueruac ecarri ciona, eta ecusi cituan supeco opea bat, eta ura. [Original spelling]
     Begiratu zuen profetak, zer ote zan aingeruak ekarri ziona, eta ekusi zituan supeko opea bat, eta ura. [Modernized spelling]

     The prophet looked, wondering what the angel had brought to him, he saw a piece of flatbread in the oven and water.

Probably borrowed from Latin opem (“wealth, assistance”).

ope inan

1. (obsolete) April
   • 1596, Joseba Lakarra, editor, Refranes y sentencias [Sayings and sentences] (Euskararen Lekukoak; 19)‎, Bilbao: Euskaltzaindia, published 1996, →ISBN, page 313:

     Opeco erlea eneçat, Mayacecoa anajeençat. [Original spelling]
     Opeko erlea enetzat, maiatzekoa anajeentzat. [Modernized spelling]

     The bees of April [are] for me, those of May [are] for my brother.

• "ope" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], euskaltzaindia.eus
• “ope” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], euskaltzaindia.eus

Clipping of opettaja.

• IPA^(key): /ˈope/, [ˈo̞pe̞]
• Rhymes: -ope
• Syllabification^(key): o‧pe

ope

1. (colloquial) teacher

   Synonyms: opettaja, maikka

ope

1. ablative singular of ops

ope

1. neuter singular of open

ope inan (plural òpeyo)

1. third-person singular present active indicative inanimate of ope (“it is white”)

• òpsu
• òpàn
• wèhènchiopànk
• òpànk

• Rementer, Jim; Pearson, Bruce L. (2005), “ope”, in Leneaux, Grant; Whritenour, Raymond, editors, The Lenape Talking Dictionary, The Lenape Language Preservation Project