Chapter Rondo to Rosalia of R by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Rope To fight with a rope round one's neck. To fight with a certainty of being hanged unless you conquer.

“You must send in a large force; ... for as he fights with a rope round his neck, he will struggle to the last.”- Kingston: The Three Admirals. viii.

   To give one rope enough. To permit a person to continue in wrong-doing, till he reaps the consequences.

Rope You carry a rope in your pocket (French). Said of a person very lucky at cards, from the superstition that a bit of rope with which a man has been hanged, carried in the pocket, secures luck at cards.

“You have no occupation?' said the Bench, inquiringly, to a vagabond at the bar. `Beg your worship's pardon,' was the rejoinder: `I deal in bits of halter for the use of gentlemen as plays.” - The Times (French correspondent).

Rope-dancer (The). Yvo de Grentmesnil, the crusader, one of the leaders of Robert, Duke of Normandy's party against Henry I. of England.
   `Ivo was one of those who escaped from Antioch when it was besieged. He was let down by a rope over the wall, and hence called `The Rope-dancer.”' - Gentleman's Magazine.

Rope-dancers Jacob Hall, in the reign of Charles II., greatly admired by the Duchess of Cleveland.
   Richer, the celebrated rope-dancer at Sadler's Wells (1658).
   Signora Violante, in the reign of Queen Anne.
   The Turk who astonished everyone who saw him, in the reign of George II.
   Froissart (vol. iv. chap. xxxviii. fol. 47) tells us of “a mayster from Geane.” who either slid or walked down a rope suspended to the highest house on St. Michael's bridge and the tower of Our Lady's church, when Isabel of Bavaria made her public entry into Paris. Some say he descended dancing, placed a crown on Isabel's head, and then reascended.
   A similar performance was exhibited in London, February 19th, 1546, before Edward VI. The rope was slung from the battlements of St. Paul's steeple. The performer of this feat was a man from Aragon.
   The same trick was repeated when Felipe of Spain came to marry Queen Mary. (See Holinshed: Chronicle, iii. p. 1121.)

Rope-walk [barristers' slang]. Old Bailey practice. Thus, “Gone into the rope-walk” means, he has taken up practice in the Old Bailey. (See Ropes .)
   The ways of London low life are called “ropes” and to know the ropes means to be au fait with the minutiæ of all sorts of dodges. (See Ropes.)

Ropes Fought back to the ropes. Fought to the bitter end. A pugilistic phrase.

“It is a battle that must be fought game, and right back to the ropes.”- Boldrewood: Robbery Under Arms, chap. xxxiii.

Ropes Tricks, artifices. A term in horse-racing. To rope a horse is to pull it in or restrain its speed, to prevent its winning a race. When a boxer or any other athlete loses for the purpose, he is accused of roping. “To know the ropes” is to be up to all the dodges of the sporting world. Of course, the ropes mean the reins.

“I am no longer the verdant country squire, the natural prey of swindlers, blacklegs, and sharks. No, sir, I `know the ropes,' and these gentry would find me but sorry sport.”- Truth: Queer Story, September 3rd, 1885.

Ropes She is on her high ropes. In a distant and haughty temper. The allusion is to a rope-dancer, who looks down on the spectators. The French say, Etre monte sur ses grands chevaux (to be on your high horse).

Roper Margaret Roper was buried with the head of her father, Sir Thomas More, in her arms.

“Her, who clasped in her last trance
Her murdered father's head.” Tennyson.

   Mistress Roper. A cant name given to the marines by British sailors. The wit, of course, lies in the awkward way that marines handle the ship's ropes.
   To marry Mistress Roper is to enlist in the marines.