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Cope vs Scope - What's the difference?

cope | scope |

As verbs the difference between cope and scope

is that cope is to deal effectively with something difficult while scope is to perform a cursory investigation, as to scope out.

As nouns the difference between cope and scope

is that cope is a long, loose cloak worn by a priest or bishop on ceremonial occasions while scope is the breadth, depth or reach of a subject; a domain.

cope

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl)

Verb

(cop)
  • To deal effectively with something difficult.
    • I thought I would never be able to cope with life after the amputation, but I have learned how to be happy again.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 5 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Chelsea were coping comfortably as Liverpool left Luis Suarez too isolated. Steven Gerrard was also being forced to drop too deep to offer support to the beleaguered Jay Spearing and Jordan Henderson rather than add attacking potency alongside the Uruguayan.}}
  • To cut and form a mitred joint in wood or metal.
  • (falconry) To clip the beak or talons of a bird.
    • Synonyms
    * (to deal effectively with) handle, manage, withstand

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A long, loose cloak worn by a priest or bishop on ceremonial occasions.
  • * Bishop Burnet
    • a hundred and sixty priests all in their copes
  • *1890 , (Oscar Wilde), The Picture of Dorian Gray , ch. XI:
  • *:He possessed a gorgeous cope of crimson silk and gold-thread damask, figured with a repeating pattern of golden pomegranates set in six-petalled formal blossoms, beyond which on either side was the pine-apple device wrought in seed-pearls.
  • Any covering such as a canopy or a mantle.
  • The "vault" or "canopy" of the skies, heavens etc.
  • * Milton
    • the starry cope of heaven
  • *, II.12:
    • Who perceiveth and seeth himselfe placed here,farthest from heavens coape , with those creatures, that are the worst of the three conditions; and yet dareth imaginarily place himselfe above the circle of the Moone, and reduce heaven under his feet.
  • (construction) A covering piece on top of a wall exposed to the weather, usually made of metal, masonry, or stone and sloped to carry off water.
  • (foundry) The top part of a sand casting mold.
    • (Knight)
    (De Colange)
  • An ancient tribute due to the lord of the soil, out of the lead mines in Derbyshire, England.

    • Verb

    (cop)
  • To cover (a joint or structure) with coping.
  • To form a cope or arch; to bend or arch; to bow.
  • * Holland
    • Some bending down and coping to ward the earth.

    Etymology 3

    Verb

    (cop)
  • (obsolete) To bargain for; to buy.
  • (obsolete) To exchange or barter.
    • (Spenser)
  • (obsolete) To make return for; to requite; to repay.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Three thousand ducats due unto the Jew, / We freely cope your courteous pains withal.
  • (obsolete) To match oneself against; to meet; to encounter.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I love to cope him in these sullen fits.
  • * Shakespeare
    • They say he yesterday coped Hector in the battle, and struck him down.
  • * Philips
    • Host coped with host, dire was the battle.
  • (obsolete) To encounter; to meet; to have to do with.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man / As e'er my conversation coped withal.
    (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    scope

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The breadth, depth or reach of a subject; a domain.
  • A device used in aiming a projectile, through which the person aiming looks at the intended target
  • (computing) The region of program source in which an identifier is meaningful.
  • (logic) The shortest sub-wff of which a given instance of a logical connective is a part.
  • (linguistics) The region of an utterance to which some modifying element applies.
    • the scope of an adverb
  • (slang) Shortened form of periscope, telescope, microscope or oscilloscope.

    • Derived terms

    * scopeless

    Verb

    (scop)
  • To perform a cursory investigation, as to scope out .
  • (slang) To perform arthroscopic surgery.
    • The surgeon will scope the football player's knee to repair damage to a ligament.
  • (slang) To examine under a microscope.
    • The entomologist explained that he could not tell what species of springtail we were looking at without scoping it.

    Anagrams

    * copes * copse ----