delope means to fire a gun into the air in order to end a duel. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why this word is great
DELOPE — [Verb] To discharge one's pistol into the air intentionally, to end a duel honorably without firing at an opponent. From French déloper ("to throw away"). Unlike to "shoot"—a bluntly functional discharge—or to "surrender"—an admission of defeat—to delope is a ritualized refusal within the very framework of violence it subverts. It is the sharp, upward crack into the dawn mist, the acrid scent of gunpowder without the coppery tang of blood, the aristocratic thumb on the hammer to signify honor over blood—a concession made not to the man opposite, but to the absurdity of the entire performance. In that spent bullet, one discards not a chance to kill, but the necessity to do so.
verb
- To fire a gun into the air in order to end a duel.“The old man raised his arm as though it had been palsied, and fired, of course without effect. The other principal immediately deloped, much to the satisfaction of my friend and all present.”