Wiktionary
a. 1 (label en boxing professional wrestling) leaning against the ropes of the boxing ring, as when exhausted and nearing defeat or collapse. 2 (label en idiomatic figuratively) Showing signs of imminent failure or collapse.
Wikipedia
On the Ropes is a 1999 American documentary film directed by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen. The film follows the career of three young boxers and their coach.
On the Ropes is the debut album by British big beat duo Mint Royale, released in 1999 on the Faith & Hope label.
In June 2001, a new version of the album was published for the U.S. market, featuring a different cover (with a close-up photo of a pinball machine) and a different tracklist. The two versions of "Shake Me" present in the original album were removed, and three new songs were added: two exclusive songs, as well as "Show Me", which would later appear in Mint Royale's subsequent album Dancehall Places (2002).
On the Ropes is a 2011 British mockumentary film written and directed by Mark Noyce. It follows the fictional character of martial arts instructor Keith Kraft and his rivalry with boxing gym owner Big Joe, played by actor and former boxer Joe Egan. The cast also includes Ben Shockley, Lindsay Honey, Raymond Griffiths, Sean Byrne and Alex Vincent.
Usage examples of "on the ropes".
A crew of two dozen otters hauled the single square sail to catch the mild breeze, singing lustily as they heaved on the ropes.
He lay sprawled across the boughs, hanging on by some Dainnan art or gramarye, and pushed on the ropes.
He worked at such work as there was to do: assisted to haul on the ropes, to throw the dead overboard, and to do what could be done for the sick and wounded.
The gang hauled on the ropes to raise the beast on the frame as the stockman rapidly sliced through the great vessels on either side of her neck, the rich blood gushing into a cauldron waiting ready with oatmeal, herbs and dry fat.
Instantly a creaking of ropes, a simultaneous grunt of effort, fifty men, the picked champions of the Ragnarsson army, throwing their mighty weight on the ropes attached to the spiked rowlocks.
With all twenty-two of us tugging on the ropes we'd take one boat in a rush a hundred yards, sometimes two hundred.
Some had already gone to haul on the ropes which pulled up the portcullis at the water-gate so as to let out the barrels as soon as they were all afloat below.