hoper

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
hope/həʊp/

▶noun

• 1 a feeling of expectation and desire.

  ■ a cause or source of hope.

  ■ grounds for hoping.

• 2 archaic a feeling of trust.

▶verb

• 1 expect and desire: he's hoping for an offer of compensation.

• 2 intend if possible to do something.

– phrases
hope against hope cling to a mere possibility.
not a (or Brit. some) hope informal no chance at all.

– derivatives
hoper noun.

– origin OE hopa (n.), hopian (v.), of Gmc origin.