ropers

Noun

roper (plural ropers)

1. (dated) A ropemaker (a maker of ropes).
   • But Gideon Giles was no common man, although a roper.1841, Thomas Miller, Gideon Giles the Roper, page 27
2. One who ropes goods; a packer.
   • I have seen 50 to 60 men doing this work, and the men vied with each other to see which could cap or rope the best; and if a bale was turned off from the capper that did not look well, some of the others would criticise it, and the same with ropers.1902, The National Nurseryman, page 134
3. (slang) Synonym of outside man (“accomplice who locates a mark to be swindled by a confidence trickster”).
   • The "roper" will inform the mark that such horses can't be picked out of the Form; what one needs is inside information.1968, Marvin B. Scott, The Racing Game, page 110

   Synonyms:

   outside man

4. A person hired by a gambling establishment to locate potential customers and bring them in.
   • Any person who, in this city, lives idly and is a gambler, or roper, steerer or capper for any gambling house or room, or any gambling game, or who lives idly and has the reputation of being a gambler, or roper, steerer or capper for any gambling house or room, or any gambling game, shall be...1888, An Ordinance in Revision of the Ordinances Governing the City of Kansas, page 364

   Synonyms:

   lugger, picker-up, roper-in, runner, steerer

5. (slang) An undercover informer.
   • Supposing in a plant on a job a roper roped a man, who was, let us say, employed by the company, and maybe a member of the union, how much would he get after he was roped?1936, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Education and Labor, Violations of Free Speech and Rights of Labor, page 137
6. Any of a variety of monsters with tentacles that they use to capture victims.
   • The party ran into a statue of a roper, which somehow attacked them.1991, Thomas Miller, The Adventurers: Book Two

See all 10 meanings of roper