lope

[lohp] /loʊp/
verb (used without object), loped, loping.
1.
to move or run with bounding steps, as a quadruped, or with a long, easy stride, as a person.
2.
to canter leisurely with a rather long, easy stride, as a horse.
verb (used with object), loped, loping.
3.
to cause to lope, as a horse.
noun
4.
the act or the gait of loping.
5.
a long, easy stride.
Origin
1375-1425; late Middle English < Dutch lopen to run, cognate with Old English hlēapan to leap
Examples from the web for lope
  • They dance, leap or lope past, often completely obscured by flowing garments.
  • Dingoes regularly lope near homes and campsites, where people often toss them scraps.
  • While not built for land travel, the otter does move along rapidly in an awkward lope.
  • In the off-season parking is plentiful, joggers lope along the macadam lot, and dogs frolic on the beach.
British Dictionary definitions for lope

lope

/ləʊp/
verb
1.
(intransitive) (of a person) to move or run with a long swinging stride
2.
(intransitive) (of four-legged animals) to run with a regular bounding movement
3.
to cause (a horse) to canter with a long easy stride or (of a horse) to canter in this manner
noun
4.
a long steady gait or stride
Derived Forms
loper, noun
Word Origin
C15: from Old Norse hlaupa to leap; compare Middle Dutch lopen to run
Word Origin and History for lope
v.

"to run with long strides," early 15c.; earlier "to leap, jump, spring" (c.1300), from Old Norse hlaupa "to run, leap," from Proto-Germanic *khlaupan (see leap (v.)). Related: Loped; loping. The noun meaning "a jump, a leap" is from late 14c.; sense of "long, bounding stride" is from 1809.