dope

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun street names for marijuana
  2. noun an ignorant or foolish person
  3. noun carbonated drink flavored with extract from kola nuts (`dope' is a southernism in the United States)

Etymology

From Dutch doop (“thick dipping sauce”), from Dutch dopen (“to dip”), from Middle Dutch dopen, from Old Dutch *dōpen, from Frankish *daupijan, from Proto-Germanic *daupijaną. “Doop” in the sense “narcotic drug” ultimately refers to viscous opium juice, the drug of choice of the ancient Greeks; “insider information” perhaps from knowing which horse had been doped in a race. Sense of "stupid person" perhaps following from the drug sense (i.e. relating to those intoxicated on opium), compare dope up. Related to English dip and German taufen. Unrelated to dopamine.

In classic literature

Synonyms

pot, grass, green goddess, weed, gage, sess, sens, smoke, skunk, locoweed, Mary Jane

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