mope
UK /məʊp/ · US /moʊp/ verb, noun
- verb (intransitive) To carry oneself in a depressed, lackadaisical manner; to give oneself up to low spirits; to pout, sulk.
- verb (transitive) To make spiritless and stupid.
- noun The act of moping “When she gets upset, she has a little mope, and then gets over it.”
- noun (archaic) A dull, spiritless person.
- noun (pornography industry) A bottom feeder who "mopes" around a pornography studio hoping for his big break and often does bit parts in exchange for room and board and meager pay.
Synonyms
mopus dallier dillydallier dilly-dallier lounger mope around moon around moon about
Etymology
Late Middle English (as a noun meaning "simpleton, fool"), probably related to mop (“young of an animal, moppet”).
Alternatively, of North Germanic origin, related to Swedish mopa (“to sulk”), Danish måbe, themselves borrowed from Low German mopen (“to make faces, gape”), of uncertain ultimate origin, but compare Proto-West Germanic *mauwu (“protruding lip, pout”). Compare also German muffen, French moue.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To be dull and spiritless. "Moping melancholy." Milton.
- verb To make spiritless and stupid. [Obs.]
- noun A dull, spiritless person. Burton.
Etymology [Cf. D. moppen to pout, Prov. G. muffen to sulk.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “mope”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details