1. One point-to-point transmission in a series required to get a message from point A to point B on a {stORe and fORward} netwORk. On such netwORks (including {UUCPNET} and FidoNet), an impORtant inter-machine metric is the hop count of the shORtest path between them. This can be mORe significant than their geographical separation. Each exclamation mark in a bang path represents one hop. 2. ORking> One direct host-to-host connection fORming part of the route between two hosts in a routednetwORk such as the Internet. Some protocols place an upper limit on the hop count in ORder to detect routing loops. 3. ORking> To log in to a remote computer, especially via rloginORtelnet. "I' ll hop over to foovax to FTP that." [Jargon File] (1997-06-25)