The AI-powered English dictionary
third-person singular simple present mopes, present participle moping, simple past and past participle moped
(intransitive) To carry oneself in a depressed, lackadaisical manner; to give oneself up to low spirits; to pout, sulk. examples
(transitive) To make spiritless and stupid. examples
plural mopes
The act of moping examples
(archaic) A dull, spiritless person. quotations
putting gulleries on some or other till they have made by their humouring or gulling ex stulto insanum, a mope or a noddy
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps
(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. quotations examples
The porn industry is many things. Subtle is not one of them. So when Porn Inc. went searching for a job title for people like Stephen Hill, the choice was "mope." It's based on the off-camera life of these fringe actors, hangers-on who mope around the studios hoping for a bit role, which if they're lucky might bring them $50 plus food — and the chance to have sex with a real, live woman.
2011: LA Weekly, documenting uses dating to the 1990s