Fibrocystic breasts are composed of tissue that feels ropy, lumpy or bumpy in texture.

CNN: Fibrocystic breasts

In any event, putting in fresh capital may now be more pressing than pulling out ropy assets.

ECONOMIST: Expect more give and less take from the mortgage rescue

By late 2005, this battle had pushed rates for ropy borrowers down to a little over 7%.

ECONOMIST: Mortgage lending

Few realised just how ropy the banks were.

ECONOMIST: Ireland��s former finance minister dies, at just 52

Road and rail links west to Dakar, in Senegal, are ropy, so Mali's lorry drivers face a grinding round trip of 2, 000km (1, 200 miles) or more through Benin or Togo to get any goods on to the world market.

ECONOMIST: Mali

Infrastructure is still ropy.

ECONOMIST: India looks east