Scopes


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Related to Scopes: Scopes trial, Urban Legends

scope 1

 (skōp)
n.
1. The range of one's perceptions, thoughts, or actions: broaden one's scope by reading.
2. The opportunity or possibility to function or be active: gave her imagination broad scope. See Synonyms at room.
3. The extent of a given activity or subject that is involved, treated, or relevant: the scope of the debate. See Synonyms at range.
4. The length or sweep of a mooring cable.
5. Linguistics The range over a part of a sentence or discourse that a quantifier has an effect on.

[Italian scopo, aim, purpose, from Greek skopos, target, aim; see spek- in Indo-European roots.]

scope 2

(skōp)
n. Informal
A viewing instrument such as a periscope, microscope, or telescope.
tr.v. scoped, scop·ing, scopes
1. To examine or investigate, especially visually: scoped the landscape for signs of wildlife.
2. To examine using an optical instrument such as a telescope or an endoscope: scoped the stars around Orion; scoped the patient's esophagus.
Phrasal Verb:
scope out
1. To make a preliminary inspection or investigation of: "That summer ... she'd scoped out a big estate auction in Bennington and spotted a beautiful burnt-umber and deep-blue Chinese rug" (Janna Malamud Smith).
2. To seek by inspecting various possibilities: "Some of the islanders are expert fishing guides, eagerly showing up at the airport for the weekly flight from Honolulu to scope out clients" (Paul Theroux).

[From -scope (as in microscope periscope, etc.). Verb, probably from noun (perhaps influenced by scope).]

Scopes

 (skōps), John Thomas 1900-1970.
American teacher who violated a state law by teaching the theory of evolution in a Tennessee high school. His trial (July 1925) was a highly publicized confrontation between defense attorney Clarence Darrow and prosecution counsel William Jennings Bryan. Scopes was found guilty and fined a nominal sum, but his conviction was later reversed on technical grounds.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Scopes

(skoʊps)

n.
John Thomas, 1901–70, U.S. high-school teacher convicted for teaching the Darwinian theory of evolution.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.Scopes - Tennessee highschool teacher who violated a state law by teaching evolution; in a highly publicized trial in 1925 he was prosecuted by William Jennings Bryan and defended by Clarence Darrow (1900-1970)
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
Browning with tact, with a real refinement and grace; saying well many [42] things which every competent reader of the great poet must feel to be true; devoting to the subject he loves a critical gift so considerable as to make us wish for work from his hands of larger scope than this small volume.
If the irrational cannot be excluded, it should be outside the scope of the tragedy.
I see a force producing effects beyond the scope of ordinary human agencies; I do not understand why this occurs and I talk of genius.
In spite of all that has happened since, I still remember that vigil very distinctly: the black and silent observatory, the shadowed lantern throwing a feeble glow upon the floor in the corner, the steady ticking of the clockwork of the tele- scope, the little slit in the roof--an oblong profundity with the stardust streaked across it.
The storm which was coming was already making itself manifest, not only in the wide scope of nature, but in the hearts and natures of human beings.
They may prefer a system which would give unlimited scope to all nations to be the carriers as well as the purchasers of their commodities.
The many books he had read filled his mind with ideas which, because he only half understood them, gave more scope to his imagination.
Thus doth the master give free scope to his slaves, and even enjoyeth their presumptuousness.
The scope of the Library thus became extended into something more international, and it is entering on the fifth decade of its existence in the hope that it may contribute to that mutual understanding between countries which is so pressing a need of the present time."
But there is so little scope for the imagination in an asylum--only just in the other orphans.
So that no man can be secret, except he give himself a little scope of dissimulation; which is, as it were, but the skirts or train of secrecy.
This was the effect with me of all the criticism which I had hitherto read, and I am not sure yet that the criticism which tries to be of a larger scope, and to see things "whole," is of any definite effect.