English

Alternative forms

• dope-sheet

Noun

dope sheet ‎(plural dope sheets)

1. (idiomatic) A summary, ordinarily in the form of a document, containing important facts and background information concerning a person, activity, or other subject matter.
   • 1904, Rex Ellingwood Beach, "Pardners":

     "He went to Alaska and made a fortune. Then he squandered it, drinking, fighting, gambling, and frittering it away on women. . . ."

     "Hold up! Your dope sheet is way to the bad. . . . Who told you all that?"

     "Never mind. I have proof."

   • 1970, James Mechem, A Diary of Women, p. 106:

     Then she started filling me in on background information that you could get from any press agent's dope sheet.

   • 1986 Dec. 30, Wayne King and Warren Weaver Jr., "Washington Talk," New York Times (retrieved 7 Aug. 2011):

     Bradley O'Leary, a devout Republican, and Victor Kamber, a staunch Democrat, are publishers of the Washington-based political dope sheet called the O'Leary/Kamber Report.

   • 1988, Terence M. Green, Barking Dogs, ISBN 9781604502541, pp. 69-70:

     Karoulis's face twitched with a combination of fear and hope, wondering what news his Homicide Detective had for him. . . . "Name was Sten Doppleman. A known pusher, and a punk . . . . According to his dope sheet, he's a vicious son of a bitch."

2. (idiomatic, gambling) A publication, updated very frequently and used by people who make horse racing wagers, which summarizes information about the horses running in specific races; a publication which provides background information and/or predictions used by people wagering on any sort of competition.
   • 1973 June 7, Harely Tinkham, "Trojan Stock Soars as Bruins Come Up Hobbling for NCAA," Los Angeles Times, p. P1:

     The Bruins, seeking their third straight NCAA title, are picked on The Times dope sheet with 59 points.

   • 2002, Walt McConville, Trabler Travel Tales, ISBN 9781553697107, p. 83:

     Also, he probably attends harness races, for he once accidentally left a dope sheet behind.

3. (idiomatic, photography) A summary of the content and technical information for a set of photographs.
   • 1967 Aug. 4, "Stored at Quantico: Fifty Years of Filmed History,"Free Lance-Star (USA), p. 5 (retrieved 7 Aug. 2011):

     The "field number" of the film is indexed into a reference file, along with the cameraman's "dope" sheet.

   • 1975, Archives: The Journal of the British Records Association, vol. 12-13, p. 16:

     Moreover, both the official cameramen and the newsreel cameramen were required to write a detailed ‘dope sheet’ describing each shot they had taken.

   • 2010, Neil Parsons and Alexander McCall Smith, Clicko: The Wild Dancing Bushman, ISBN 9780226647425, p. 91:

     The dope sheet for the photographs, which may have been written some time later reads: "Accidentally shot by an Englishman while hunting in Africa."

4. (idiomatic, film) A set of detailed instructions which the designer of an animated film provides to the photographers and editors.
   • 2002 May 1, S. D. Katz, "Animation: Master 2002," digitalcontentproducer.com (retrieved 7 Aug. 2011):

     From a workflow point of view, the access to these tools seems to have been guided by artists with experience with exposure sheets (a dope sheet for lip synch is included) and traditional animation.

Synonyms

• (horse racing information): dope book, racing form, scratch sheet, tip sheet
• (animation instructions): exposure sheet

References

• dope sheet at OneLook Dictionary Search