Old English hopian "wish, expect, look forward (to something)," of unknown origin, a general North Sea Germanic word (cf. Old Frisian hopia, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Dutch hopen; Middle High German hoffen "to hope," borrowed from Low German). Some suggest a connection with hop (v.) on the notion of "leaping in expectation" [Klein]. Related: Hoped; hoping.
Old English hopa, from hope (v.). Cf. Old Frisian and Middle Dutch hope, Dutch hoop, all from their respective verbs.
one of the three main elements of Christian character (1 Cor. 13:13). It is joined to faith and love, and is opposed to seeing or possessing (Rom. 8:24; 1 John 3:2). "Hope is an essential and fundamental element of Christian life, so essential indeed, that, like faith and love, it can itself designate the essence of Christianity (1 Pet. 3:15; Heb. 10:23). In it the whole glory of the Christian vocation is centred (Eph. 1:18; 4:4)." Unbelievers are without this hope (Eph. 2:12; 1 Thess. 4:13). Christ is the actual object of the believer's hope, because it is in his second coming that the hope of glory will be fulfilled (1 Tim. 1:1; Col. 1:27; Titus 2:13). It is spoken of as "lively", i.e., a living, hope, a hope not frail and perishable, but having a perennial life (1 Pet. 1:3). In Rom. 5:2 the "hope" spoken of is probably objective, i.e., "the hope set before us," namely, eternal life (comp. 12:12). In 1 John 3:3 the expression "hope in him" ought rather to be, as in the Revised Version, "hope on him," i.e., a hope based on God.
district municipality, southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It lies at the confluence of the Coquihalla and Fraser rivers in the forested Coast Mountains, near Mount Hope (6,000 feet [1,829 metres]), 90 miles (145 km) east of Vancouver. The Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Hope on the site in 1848-49, an event commemorated by a cairn at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Wallace Street. Hope became a busy outpost during the Fraser River gold rush in the late 1850s. Now a major railway and highway junction, its economy depends largely on lumbering, mining (nickel and copper), and tourism (based on such local attractions as the Fraser River Canyon and Skagit Valley). Inc. village, 1929; town, 1965. Pop. (2006) 6,185.
in Christian thought, one of the three theological virtues, the others being faith and charity (love). It is distinct from the latter two because it is directed exclusively toward the future, as fervent desire and confident expectation. When hope has attained its object, it ceases to be hope and becomes possession. Consequently, whereas "love never ends," hope is confined to man's life on Earth.