dope

(dōp)

noun

1. Informal
   a. A narcotic, especially an addictive narcotic.
   b. Narcotics considered as a group.
   c. An illicit drug, especially marijuana.
2. A narcotic preparation used to stimulate a racehorse.
3. Informal A stupid person; a dolt.
4. Informal Factual information, especially of a private nature.
5. Chemistry An absorbent or adsorbent material used in certain manufacturing processes, such as the nitroglycerin used in making dynamite.
6. A type of lacquer formerly used to protect, waterproof, and tauten the cloth surfaces of airplane wings.
7. Chiefly Southern U.S. See cola¹.
8. Lower Northern U.S. Syrup or sweet sauce that is poured on ice cream.

verb doped doped, dop·ing, dopes verb, transitive

1. Informal
   a. To administer a narcotic to: was doped up for the operation.
   b. To add a narcotic to: They doped his drink before robbing him.
   c. To administer a performance-enhancing substance to (an athlete).
   d. To subject (an athlete) to blood doping.
2. Informal To figure out (a puzzle, for example).
3. Informal To make a rough plan of: doped out our proposal on scratch paper.
4. Electronics To treat (a semiconductor) with a dopant.

verb, intransitive
Informal

1. To take narcotics or a performance-enhancing substance.
2. To engage in blood doping.

Related Forms:

• dopˈer noun

Regional Note: Dope was borrowed into English from the Dutch word doop, “sauce.” Throughout the 19th century it meant “gravy.” In the North Midland United States, particularly Ohio, dope is still heard as the term for an ice-cream topping, such as syrup. In the South, particularly in South Carolina, dope means “a cola-flavored soft drink.” Dope was especially used of those medicinal preparations that produced a stupefying effect, and it even became a slang term for the dark, molasses-like form of opium that was smoked in opium dens. Some of the common modern meanings of the word dope—“a narcotic substance” and “narcotics considered as a group,”—developed from this use of the word.