1(of a person) move by jumping on one foot.

1. 1.1 (of a bird or other animal) move by jumping with two or all feet at once.
   a blackbird was hopping around in the sun

   Example sentencesExamples

   • In this posture, the bird hops backward on the perch, moving upward if the perch is inclined.
   • All over the UK there are millions of rabbits cowering in the undergrowth awaiting the moment when they can hop hopefully to the nearest patch of grass and nibble to their heart's content.
   • The birds hopped closer to inspect the foreign object that had entered their domain before one particularly brave soul perched itself upon her hand.
   • I sat on the ground for hours with crumbs on my hand and watched as the birds hopped forward and then fluttered away, then even closer and away again, unsure whether to trust the gift.
   • On the forest floor, two rabbit-sized, hoofed animals hop through the low underbrush.
   • Actions are jerky and the bird hops rather than climbs even when beneath a branch.
   • There were chipmunks and squirrels fussing, rabbits hopping and jumping, and even an owl hooting softly.
   • The pigeon hopped away and Sara was forced once more to turn her attention back to the funeral.
   • Within 5 minute they were hopping around, eating seeds, running into one hole and coming out another 20 feet away.
   • Contrary to popular belief, these insects do not hop, jump, or fly.
   • First, I sketched the bird hopping about the garden.
   • All kinds of exotic birds hop on the sand near the window.
   • Similarly, if you observe birds hopping around on the ground, you are not going to think ‘warblers.’
   • There, a bird hopped from spot to spot, searching for a worm beneath the ground as the Lord had instructed her to do.
   • They move primarily by hopping on their hind limbs.
   • A few of these ground-foraging warblers hopped across the grass, close enough to enjoy without binoculars.
   • When I moved back to a distance of four or five feet, they would hop over and take their crackers.
   • Becky was on her way to watch the kids play Jacks and Hopscotch by the tennis courts, when she spotted the little creature hopping near a trash can in the garden trail rest area.
   • Here and there deer wandered, and rabbits hopped through the fields.
   • Many birds of prey were hopping around on the ground, eating grubs and worms, unable to fly because of the lack of thermals.
2. 1.2 Spring or leap a short distance with one jump.
   he hopped down from the rock

   Example sentencesExamples

   • He sat up and stretched, and his son hopped onto the couch beside him.
   • We hop, skip, jump around and over it, at least twice a day, familiar now, to the danger, adroit at avoidance.
   • Since I was the closest to the door, I was the first out, and hopped down the short steps and turned right to my bike.
   • I hopped over a few cardboard boxes and leaped up onto a couple of dumpsters, walking on top of them and then jumping back down just for the fun of it.
   • The rabbit just hopped over the next row of lettuces and turned to look at the boy.
   • Will hopped onto the bed and was still much shorter than John.
   • As I hopped down the short steps, I went around to the side of the house, where my bike was.
   • To anyone without infrared vision, it looked like she was doing some sort of bizarre, tribal dance, hopping over invisible things in a seemingly utterly empty room.
   • Alyssia helped him up onto her horse then hopped on behind him.
   • With a stiff spring, the particle hops over short distances and tends to be localized, whereas the particle can make long jumps, sliding over many valleys, when the spring is soft.
   • I turned on my heel and immediately set off in the direction of the sound, in a straight line so that I had to hop over a wall and leap a few bushes.
   • I dashed over to the small spring and hopped to a rock that was in the middle of it.
   • I hopped over the short picket fence surrounding our garden, onto the sidewalk and ran as fast as I could towards the bus stop.
   • His long suffering partner Jennie Harrington danced beautifully even when hopping over Thomas's backside!
   • Andy hopped up on the table for a minute, stared at her, then slapped Mia across the chops, drove her out of the seat, and settled in her place.
   • I quickly got into my bathing suit, and hopped into my favorite shorts, that didn't have back pockets.
   • The Leinster champions had another slice of good fortune when a poor point attempt by Sheridan fell short but hopped over the bar for a point.
   • He hopped down from the short stage and Jerry followed him to the outer wall.
   • The doppelgänger leapt over the spikes and hopped onto the wall as the others followed.
   • She leaped agilely back up, hopping carefully onto the ancient wall.
   • The dog hopped over the creature and sat down next to him, panting.
3. 1.3with object Jump over (something)
   the cow hopped the fence

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Humpty Hump from the Digital Underground hops the ropes to join The Perceptionists.
   • I jumped a fence, ran down backyards and alleys, hopped another fence, and the dog was waiting.
   • During the event, Ezell hopped a guardrail and tried to run onto the field.
   • Not only did Monica fear for her family, she also had little privacy, because golfers often would hop their short backyard fence to search for errant shots.
   • If the weather's nice we hop a few fences and see parts of the park that no one except the forest rangers have visited for a century.
   • When he thought it was safe to come out, he hopped a fence onto another street, only to find his attackers waiting there.
   • Hildebrand's first attempt at hopping the gender fence hasn't really proved all that difficult.
   • And William jumps off that little fellow and hops the fence and he and I run like crazy and hide in the house with all the animals that live in the dark.
   • I hopped the fence of Sal's Auto Lot and found the only car that wasn't a bucket.
   • It hopped the distance between the two beds and settled down on Ariana's pillow.
   • He hopped the small white fence and jogged over to us, fishing a pair of keys out of his khaki pants.
   • We followed a narrow dirt path off the main road, hopped a couple of fences, went across a field, up a hill, and there it was: it all came back to me.
   • Brewer was accused of hopping the fence at a daycare center that Maddox was attending.
   • Now I don't get Down Under too often, so this is a good shot at having me hop the Pond to Australia while I'm there, as well as going to other place in EnZed.
   • Cops cuffed him and brought him to the Guy station where he attempted to escape by hopping a small wall.
   • I hopped the railing and stood on the path, and she had knelt down to adjust the toddler's helmet about 80m ahead of me.
   • He'll probably think you're the coolest chick if you hop the fence and head to the court with the boys.
   • He hopped the fence behind the dormhouse and walked across the street.
   • Then he hopped the railing and trotted over the line.
   • The U.S., for its part, counted it as a victory when a member of the Bolshoi would hop an airport turnstile and defect.
4. 1.4informal Pass quickly from one place to another.
   let's hop over to the bar

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Last winter, a family hopped to Lapland for six hours to meet Santa.
5. 1.5 Make a quick change of position, location, or activity.
   over the years he hopped from one department to another

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Everyone was job hopping, often moving up a level with each hop.
   • He gave me a quick kiss before hopping onto the podium.
   • As he was sat watching the birds hopping from branch to branch, he heard the sound of footfalls off to his side.
   • They hopped back to their positions on either side of the bridge.
   • This should also apply to those who hop parties without plausible reasons.
   • After working in the organization for perhaps a year, they hop jobs, with the primary objective being more money.
   • With their genre hopping style, The Offcuts are a unique live prospect, with many surprised by their sudden, ferocious appearance on stage.
   • No question about it, label hopping kills most bands.
   • The woman hopped to her feet and swatted at him without a second thought.
   • The dot com revolution spawned a whole new generation of savvy, job hopping free agents who each said proudly they were their own security.
   • Too much to do, too little done, too many ideas, I keep hopping from one to the other like a demented grasshopper, but slower.
   • They've seen in recent years how quickly it's possible to get ahead by job hopping, yet they crave security in the face of today's shaky business climate.
   • Finally, he gets around me and lane hops a bit and that's the last I see of him.
   • Now people hop, skip, and jump among religious bodies and congregations, picking and choosing, paying their money and taking their choice.
   • They lay down, with the birds hopping from branch to branch above them and the bright sky peeping down at them.
   • So a quick decision later we hopped over to the supermarket feeling lucky they would have some left.
   • Lori crossed the room in a few quick paces and hopped up on a stool at the island that sectioned off the kitchen from the dinning room.
   • The cold feel of the paint all over her face made her hop up and start jumping around, in a vain attempt to remove the paint.
6. 1.6informal with object Board (a bus, airplane, or other mode of transportation)
   she hopped a train in Winnipeg

   Example sentencesExamples

   • People could hop on and off, and travel as far as they needed to at a more normal speed.
   • And, more so than many other cities in the country, they are hopping on a plane over to resorts in Spain, France and Greece to get it.
   • Then they'll hop on a plane and head home tomorrow evening.
   • Next Thursday, they are hopping on a plane to go and stay with their godmother first then aunties and cousins.
   • People will hop on easyJet and take their money elsewhere.
   • This is definitely not a tourist area, so we just hopped off, walked around for a half hour and returned to the ferry dock.
   • We all hopped on, relieved to be out of the cold, and spent a frustrating hour virtually motionless.
   • People were hopping on and off the bus with alacrity and some enjoyed more than one trip per day.
   • Todd hopped on a WestJet flight and was home before I was.
   • ‘It suggests she is hopping on the political bandwagon to get the massive Knocknacarra vote,’ said Ms Shanley.
   • If they want to know why Green voters aren't hopping on the Gore bandwagon, they don't need to look beyond their own candidate.
   • Before she could register what was happening, Damien took off for the train and hopped on board.
   • I hopped on board a car headed for Canal Street not realizing that I was really only a few blocks from the end of the line.
   • If there's a resistance strain of tuberculosis somewhere in Africa, it can hop on an airplane with a passenger and go over to the U.S. or go over to Europe.
   • Today, it's no big deal to hop on an airplane and travel halfway around the world in a matter of hours.
   • Some people can hop off the red-eye at 6am and whizz straight to their desks.
   • At 8.30 am yesterday, the Advertiser clocked 46 people hopping onto buses; by 9am that figure had risen to 106.
   • Already, it's easy to see that writers and coaches have hopped on board the Boise and Fresno trains.
   • People could hop on and off the tram and do their shopping.
   • Passengers hopped on and off between stops, which may not have had the blessing of the Health and Safety Executive but it was certainly damned convenient.
7. 1.7North American informal with object Jump onto (a moving vehicle)
   ex-soldiers looking for work hopped freight trains heading west

   Example sentencesExamples

   • With the release of the first bit of material since he hopped the solo train, I'm sorry to say that not too much has changed.
   • Now, he wondered, if she would seriously try to come after him, hopping the train and quite possibly dying just for a few dollars that would equal nothing more than a train ticket.
   • Then Ida put aside her life of duty and quiet respectability in the little upstate town of New Paltz and hopped a train.
   • Ortiz then went went solo, hopping a train to Philadelphia.
   • No more long waits to hop planes at busy European or South-east Asian airports.
   • I got up off the plane, went out, tried to find people on the phone, tried to find out what happened, and hopped a plane home to Atlanta.
   • Keller lives his life like a high-priced courier, hopping a plane ever few months to deliver his terrible package to some unsuspecting recipient.
   • He hopped railcars across Mexico and entered the United States illegally in early 1997.
   • Finally, with the stubborn courage only the young possess, I hopped the night train for Tokyo without any ticket at all.
   • The perfect setting for a little ego death on the Nile before hopping the sleeper train back to Cairo.
   • I was going to hop the train, but it was four blocks away, a distance any respectable New Yorker would walk.
   • He invented an alternative biography about working-class roots, an upbringing in New Mexico and hopping boxcars across the country.
   • He came back to one of my classes and talked about all this stuff like how if you don't know what you're doing, you can just get sliced in half trying to hop the trains.
   • If you start to burn out on Amsterdam, hop a train to Haarlem.
   • After pooling the cash, she skipped bail on the day of her trial and hopped a flight to Los Angeles, leaving her daughters with her aunt.
   • So you're more likely to hop a ride in one of these in the U.S., Canada, Russia, or New Zealand than on a London street.
   • The following day we hopped a train from Burgos to Sahagun, and began to hike the Camino Frances.
   • My head is swimming with dreams and schemes and the overwhelming desire to hop a bus or a train or a plane and make this dream happen.
   • As soon as I graduated from high school, I hopped the first train to New York City.
   • I walked because I loved it; then I lapsed into hopping the train to save 15 minutes.
8. 1.8-hoppingusually as noun in combination (of an aircraft or ferry) pass quickly from one place to another.
   two-week island-hopping packages

   Example sentencesExamples

   • For the past 10 years, he's hopped around the globe working for SAP Computer Systems.
   • Here is an event that is sure to trigger the youngsters to hop on to the dance floor for a jig.
   • The industry really seems to consist of the same 50 people hopping around some ten places all the time.
   • Arif Mohammed Khan hopped from one channel to another, explaining his leap of faith.
   • I then hopped over to Amazon, my online music retailer of choice, and found the album there as well.
   • The World came to Cobh on Saturday, has been in Waterford since yesterday and journeys to Belfast tomorrow, hops across to Scotland and then visits Dublin on August 20.
   • Somewhat disappointed, I compensated by hopping next door to McDonald's for my first burger meal since I've been on my own.
   • Repeat sequences are short stretches of DNA that have been hopping around the genome by copying and inserting themselves into new regions.
   • Bars door after door, street after street in Vieux-Nice enable you to hop bar to bar with minimal effort.
   • To capture a view of the scientific display, the rural students hopped from one room to another.
   • You can't simply have people hopping around at will to avoid the authorities.
   • She apparently is in the hospitality business and is presently island hopping in her work.
   • These are just a few of the questions that I ask as I continue island hopping in Greece.
   • Suddenly concerned he opened the door quickly and rushed inside, startling Blair who was hopping from the desk to the couch.
   • And she then proceeded to hop around the dance floor to the beat.
   • I had a very short nap while Graham hopped over the road to a sandwich bar and secured a late but exceedingly tasty lunch.
   • Normally I could persuade my employers to cough up for this, but I'm increasingly hopping between companies where that's not an option.
   • After two hours' rock hopping the forest starts to yield to scrub and eventually meadow as we emerge above the treeline.
   • Frequency hopping, and radio encryption in general, is a short step away from digital radio.
   • Soon the moraine squeezes against the river, and Asia and I are forced to hop boulder to slippery boulder.
   • It skipped Shanghai, hopping suddenly to the north of China, Professor Yu Zhihao of Nanjing University explained.

   Synonyms

   go, dash, rush
9. 1.9hop itBritish informal Go away quickly.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Because I have become either wise or dull, I decided to hop it.
   • Gary Ruane came across and I hopped it back inside.
   • I suspect that what is actually happening is that the UK would like to declare success in the South and hop it over to Afghanistan to join the Nato-led forces there, while the US withdraws to its permanent bases.
   • By his own say-so an insignificant umpire could dismiss a world class player by the lift of his finger rather as if a stage carpenter could have told Sir John Gielgud to hop it.
   • Those hard-working folk at BT's plush HQ opposite St Paul's Cathedral in London have been told that the building is going to be sold and they're going to have to hop it.
   • Dirty gave him a load of cash and told him to hop it.
   • Tali hopped it to Melbourne in 2001; a year later came her meeting with Size.
   • These cheeky beggars should have been told to hop it.
   • There's the brooding and mysterious Velimir Zajec, catalyst for Harry hopping it, and there's the long-lost hero - what has Joe Jordan been doing for the last few years?
   • A few weeks ago, I was in Harrods and some obnoxious female told me to hop it - I was complaining.
   • I just looked inside, told it to hop it, and it has.
   • We hopped it and entered the maze of the Old City.
   • So I hopped it to next-door St Lucia and probably my favourite restaurant in the world, Bang.
   • You can hop it back home to Australia immediately.
   • A guy I work with, and have known for years, although not well, just hopped it from work, with no warning.
   • Three large frog warning signs have unaccountably hopped it from Stainton village.
   • There was packing to do, times to arrange, plans to confirm but in the end they got on a plane and hopped it to Topaz's home town.
   • Frank walked in, looked over and said, in that unmistakable basso profundo: ‘Oi, Mr Observer man, hop it.’

1A hopping movement.

1. 1.1 A short journey or distance.
   a short hop by cab from Soho

   Example sentencesExamples

   • They tend to attract people who like the idea of a proper voyage, rather than a series of hops between ports.
   • Start early by taking the train to Ardrossan and the short ferry hop to Bute.
   • For short city hops, tuk-tuks are available all over the country.
   • This day started off with a typical flight brief for a short one-hour hop.
   • A plane hop or ferry ride from Maui lands you in Lanai.
   • The flight was the smoothest hour and a half hop ever, and the landing, everyone commented, was a transparent glide from air to runway.
   • It takes about 8 minutes for that trip, so the short, final hop from the Moon to the Earth is trivial by comparison.
   • After completing ground training, I was scheduled for my first hop at the flight-instructor-training unit.
   • Flying from Maine to Arizona in a single hop, the 3,000 mile journey took roughly 6.5 hours.
   • Now it was just a hop on an internal flight from Luxor to Aswan and on to the banks of the Nile and lake Nasser.
   • Longer distance communications can be achieved in multiple hops without loss of data rate.
   • Even the timing of a Nato summit which Bush is attending this weekend in Istanbul, a short plane hop from Baghdad, had been shifted back a few weeks so as to take place two days before the handover.
   • We made the trip home in one hop.
   • Many iSCSI applications are latency sensitive, so building the network with the fewest number of hops and the shortest possible links is usually a key consideration.
   • It's a short and pleasant hop through one of Rio's most attractive middle-class neighborhoods.
   • The number of hops on the shortest path between people is sometimes called the graph distance or degree of separation between those people.
   • Both are scheduled for the same time and the venues are too distant to make a hop from one to the next without missing out on the key presentations.
   • Getting to Okanagan involves a four - to six-hour drive or a short plane hop from Vancouver or Seattle.
   • You see them flying all over the world, mostly on short to medium hops.
   • It offers excellent communications and a short sea hop to Sri Lanka.

   Synonyms

   journey, distance, ride, drive, run, trip, jaunt

2An informal dance.

1A twining climbing plant native to north temperate regions, cultivated for the flowers borne by the female plant, which are used in brewing beer.

Humulus lupulus, family Cannabaceae (or Cannabidaceae)

1. 1.1hops The dried cones (flowers) of the hop, used in brewing to give a bitter flavor and as a mild sterilant.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Wheat, hops and barley were readily accessible.
   • The resulting beer was that now characteristic of Australia: light in colour and body, but tasting strongly of bitter hops.
   • Yeast ferments the sugars in the malt to alcohol while the hops provide bitter flavour and aroma.
   • This brew, made in Kentucky, includes not only hops, barley and water - but also hemp seed.
   • Earlier this year CBN imported Copper Crest, which is touted as a traditional beer made from sorghum, maize, hops and caramel with yeast.
   • Chamomile, lime flower, valerian, hops or passion flower all have relaxant properties and can be given to calm nerves and relax tense muscles.
   • Under this law only drinks which complied with the German Act could be sold as Bier, and this meant that the term could be used only in relation to those drinks which were made from barley, hops, yeast, and water.
   • Known by the scientific name Cannabis sativa, marijuana is an annual herb closely related to the hops used in beer brewing.
   • Aromatic, smoky, malty notes wrap themselves around the delicate flavours of the hops and the brewing yeasts.
   • To relieve tension headaches or indigestion, include catnip, hops, or chamomile in your sleep formula.
   • Hops are the flower of the hop vine, which is a member of the hemp family.
   • The beer is brewed with ‘only the finest sun-ripened hops, grains and barley.’
   • The oils that produce the hop flavor and aroma are very volatile and evaporate quickly, so the boiling hops only contribute bitterness to the beer - the flavor and aroma are added later.
   • In some instances the industry itself has disappeared: there are no more metropolitan tanneries; British beer is flavoured with Czech hops.
   • According to German law, beer can only be brewed using barley, malt, hops, yeast and water - no nasty chemicals are allowed.
   • That means eliminating impure tastes in the brewing process so the flavour of the hops can emerge untainted.
   • The best one, used in Beck's Alcohol-Free, is to brew as normal, allowing the hops, yeast and malts time to impart flavour, and then to remove the alcohol.
   • According to Okanagan Springs, the Bavarian Purity Law restricts beer to barley, water, hops and yeast, but in fact, the law permits the use of any type of grain so long as it has been malted.
   • First class; the hops skip out the glass, snort up the nose and please the palate with a balance and harmony that would have many believing it had been hand-pulled by a proud publican. -
   • Besides water, beer is made with three basic ingredients: barley, hops and yeast.

1with object Flavor with hops.

2be hopped upinformal Be stimulated or intoxicated by or as if by a psychoactive drug.