To go at a lope or canter. The ‘Cath. Angl.’ (1483) gives the word as an equivalent of Salire or Saltare.
1851. Tho’ they [grizzly bears] ain’t built raal beautiful for runnin, they lope awful smart when thur arter a humin’ critter.—‘Polly Peablossom’s Wedding,’ &c., p. 110. (Italics in the original.)
1855. There’s nary hoss that was ever foaled, durn fool enough to lope over such a place.—Oregon Weekly Times, May 12.
1888. Then came the perplexity in my guest’s face at a trotter outdoing the most splendid specimen of a loping horse, as he thought.—Mrs. Custer, ‘Tenting on the Plains,’ pp. 391–2.
1908. In them days folks didn’t go a-lopin’ all over creation as soon as they got married; they settled down to housekeepin’ like sensible folks ought to do.—Eliza C. Hall, ‘Aunt Jane of Kentucky,’ p. 124.
1909. Pretty soon here he come on horseback, gallopin’ as hard as he could, and five or six hounds lopin’ at the horse’s heels.—Eliza C. Hall, ‘The Land of Long Ago,’ p. 53 (N.Y.).
