dope
Definitions
General Science
- verb to introduce a dopant into a substance
Construction
- In plumbing, a material placed on pipe threads to make them waterproof.
- An additive in mortar or plaster to accelerate or retard the set.
Electronics
- To add a dopant to a semiconductor material. The more dopant added to a semiconductor during its manufacturing process, the greater its conductivity.
- symbol for electric displacement, displacement (2), and electric flux density.
Law
- noun a drug given illegally to affect sporting performance
- noun an illegal drug, especially cannabis
- verb to add a drug to food or drink secretly in order to affect sporting performance
Slang
- adjective excellent, fashionable, admirable. A vogue term of approbation which originated in American usage in the early 1990s and by 1995 had been adopted for fashionable speech by British and Australian adolescents.
- noun an illicit drug, narcotics. The word was first applied to stupefying drugs such as opium and heroin at the turn of the 20th century, and remained limited to this context until the 1960s. In the late 1960s hippy drug users began to apply the then almost archaic form ironically to their preferred soft drug, cannabis (marihuana and hashish), and this remains the most common use today.
- noun information, news. In this sense the word has been used at least since World War I, especially in America. The word is derived from the idea of something dense or viscous, embodied in the Dutch word doop, meaning dip (in the sense of a sauce in which other food may be dipped).
- noun a foolish or stupid person
- symbolD
- noun dope, illicit drugs. The predictable abbreviation was typically used by British cannabis smokers in the early and mid-1970s.
- noun a detective. This abbreviation dates from the 19th century and is now almost archaic. It has metamorphosed into demon.
Cars & Driving
- mark on the output (live) terminal on a dynamo.
Computing
- symbol the hexadecimal figure equivalent to decimal number 13
General English
- noun the fourth letter of the alphabet, between C and E
Origin & History of “dope”
Dope originated in the USA, where it was borrowed from Dutch doop ‘sauce’. this was a derivative of the verb doopen ‘dip’, which is related to English dip. It was at first used as a general colloquialism for any thick semi-liquid preparation, whether used as a food or, e.g., as a lubricant, but during the 19th century some specific strands began to emerge: notably ‘drug’, and in particular ‘opium’, and ‘varnish painted on the fabric of an aircraft’. The effects of the former led to its use in the sense ‘fool’, and to the coinage of the adjective dopey, first recorded in the 1890s. The sense ‘information’ dates from around 1900.
