hope

Etymology 1

From Middle English hopen, from Old English hopian (“hope”), from Proto-West Germanic *hopōn, further etymology unclear.

verb

1. (intransitive, transitive) To want something to happen, with a sense of expectation that it might.
   I hope everyone enjoyed the meal.
   I am still hoping that all will turn out well.
   It is to be hoped that some corresponding smartening up of these other schedules may be expected before long. 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 593
   The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll. 2013-06-08, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55
2. To be optimistic; be full of hope; have hopes.
3. (intransitive) To place confidence; to trust with confident expectation of good; usually followed by in.
4. (transitive, dialectal, nonstandard) To wish.
   I hope you all the best.

Etymology 2

From Middle English hope, from Old English hopa (“hope, expectation”), from the same source as the verb hope.

noun

1. (countable or uncountable) The feeling of trust, confidence, belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen.
   I still have some hope that I can get to work on time.
   After losing my job, there's no hope of being able to afford my world cruise.
   There is still hope that we can find our missing cat.
   My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 3, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
2. (countable) The actual thing wished for.
3. (countable) A person or thing that is a source of hope.
   We still have one hope left: my roommate might see the note I left on the table.
4. (Christianity, uncountable) The virtuous desire for future good.

Etymology 3

From Middle English hope (“a valley”), from Old English hōp (found only in placenames). More at hoop.

noun

1. (Northern England, Scotland) A hollow; a valley, especially the upper end of a narrow mountain valley when it is nearly encircled by smooth, green slopes; a combe.

Etymology 4

From Icelandic hóp (“a small bay or inlet”). Cognate with English hoop.

noun

1. A sloping plain between mountain ridges.
2. (Scotland) A small bay; an inlet; a haven.
   Being by contrarie winds driuen to staie against Erith, at Grauesend, in Tilberie hope. 1587, Abraham Fleming, Holinshed's Chronicles