Word.ws English Dictionary

devil's ropes

devil's ropes is the plural of devil's rope.

Meaning of devil's rope

Noun

devil's rope (countable and uncountable, plural devil's ropes)

  1. Mortal sin.
    • ...those who are dragged to the gallows of hell by the devil's rope, that is, mortal sin, and will not confess.2008, Preaching in the Age of Chaucer: Selected Sermons in Translation, →ISBN, page 29
  2. An open branching shrub (Cylindropuntia imbricata) with cylindrical joints, which are covered with short raised ridges like the plait of a rope.
  3. A variety of cochineal, (Dactylopius newsteadi), used to destroy Cylindropuntia imbricata.
  4. (US, slang, southwest) Barbed wire
    • The devil's rope was originally designed to keep cows from roaming, Indians from encroaching, and the cowboys from singing their lonesome ballads.2011, Linh Dinh, Love Like Hate: A Novel, →ISBN, page 94

Questions about devil's ropes

What is devil's ropes the plural of?
Devil's ropes is the plural of devil's rope.

Words near devil's ropes in the dictionary

  1. devil's proofs
  2. devil's purse
  3. devil's purses
  4. Devil's Rings
  5. devil's rope
  6. devil's ropes
  7. Devil's Sea
  8. devil's shoestring
  9. devil's snuffbox
  10. devil's staircase
  11. devil's strip

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: devil's ropes (page history and authors); devil's rope (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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