Wiktionary

stoop

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English stoupen, from Old English stūpian (“to bow, bend”), from Proto-West Germanic *stūpōn, from Proto-Germanic *stūpōną, *stūpijaną (“to stand out”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewb- (“to push, butt, knock”). Compare steep. Cognate with Dutch stuipen (“to bend the upper part of the body forward and downward”), Old Norse stúpa (“to stoop”). Related also to Old Frisian stēpa (“to help”), Old Norse steypa (“to cause to stoop, cast down, overthrow”).

Noun

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stoop (plural stoops)

 
a man in a stoop position
  1. A stooping, bent position of the body.
    The old man walked with a stoop.
    • 2011, Phil McNulty, Euro 2012: Montenegro 2-2 England‎[1]:
      Theo Walcott's final pass has often drawn criticism but there could be no complaint in the 11th minute when his perfect delivery to the far post only required a stoop and a nod of the head from Young to put England ahead.
  2. An accelerated descent in flight, as that for an attack.
    • 1819, “Bracebridge Hall”, in Hawking, Washington Irving:
      At length the hawk got the upper hand, and made a rushing stoop at her quarry
Derived terms
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Translations
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body position

Verb

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stoop (third-person singular simple present stoops, present participle stooping, simple past and past participle stooped)

  1. To bend the upper part of the body forward and downward to a half-squatting position; crouch.
    He stooped to tie his shoe-laces.
    • 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:
      Their walk had continued not more than ten minutes when they crossed a creek by a wooden bridge and came to a row of mean houses standing flush with the street. At the door of one, an old black woman had stooped to lift a large basket, piled high with laundered clothes.
    • 2010 December 28, Kevin Darlin, “West Brom 1 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC‎[2]:
      Pedersen took a short corner and El-Hadji Diouf was given time to send in a cross for Mame Diouf to stoop and head home from close range.
  2. To lower oneself; to demean or do something below one's status, standards, or morals.
    Can you believe that a salesman would stoop so low as to hide his customers' car keys until they agreed to the purchase?
  3. (intransitive) Of a bird of prey: to swoop down on its prey.
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:
      the holy eagle
      Stoop'd, as to foote vs: his Ascension is
      More sweet then our blest Fields
    • 1882, [1875], Thomas Bewick, James Reiveley, William Harvey, The Parlour Menagerie, 4th edition, page 63:
      Presently the bird stooped and seized a salmon, and a violent struggle ensued.
  4. (transitive) To cause to incline downward; to slant.
    to stoop a cask of liquor
  5. (transitive) To cause to submit; to prostrate.
  6. To yield; to submit; to bend, as by compulsion; to assume a position of humility or subjection.
  7. To descend from rank or dignity; to condescend.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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to bend the upper part of the body forward and downward

Etymology 2

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From Middle English stope, stoupe, from Old Norse staup (“dip, well, cup”), from Proto-Germanic *staupą, related to the verb *staupijaną (“to steep”). Related to Old English stēap (“drinking vessel, cup, flagon, stoop”).

Noun

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stoop (plural stoops)

  1. A vessel for holding liquids; like a flagon but without the spout.
Alternative forms
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Etymology 3

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A stoop in New York City.

Borrowed from Dutch stoep (“platform", "pavement”). Doublet of stoep. Cognate with step.

Noun

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stoop (plural stoops)

  1. (chiefly New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, also Canada) The staircase and landing or porch leading to the entrance of a residence.
    Synonyms: porch, verandah
    • 1856, James Fenimore Cooper, Satanstoe or The Littlepage Manuscripts: A Tale of the Colony, London, page 110:
      Nearly all the houses were built with their gables to the streets and each had heavy wooden Dutch stoops, with seats, at its door.
    • 1905 Carpentry and Building, vol. 27 (January 1905), NY: David Williams Company, page 2
      ...the entrance being at the side of the house and reached by a low front stoop with four or five risers...
    • 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation‎[3], archived from the original on 22 May 2024:
      The guard at the door coughed up blood, and died instantly. Fina was carrying an empty rifle with a sharpened bayonet, and she'd thrust it straight up through his neck, severing the spinal cord. She levered him off the front stoop and into the bushes, then stood up on the tips of her toes to peer through the window in the door.
  2. (US) The threshold of a doorway; a doorstep.
    Synonyms: step, doorstep
    • 1902, Gustav Kobbé, Signora: a child of the opera house, page 15:
      A short flight of iron steps leads up to it and a storm door is built over the stoop, forming a little vestibule, and serving to keep out the gusts.
    • 1975, Laurraine Goreau, Just Mahalia, Baby: The Mahalia Jackson Story, page 248:
      You better hurry up and get strong, if you going to carry me across the stoop.
    • 1997, Peter S. Feibleman, A place without twilight‎[4], page 15:
      Holding her breath while she set one foot over the stoop and followed it up into the house
    • 1999, Nora Gallagher, Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith, page 115:
      She grins at me and lifts her walker over the stoop.
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Translations
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Etymology 4

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From Middle English stoupe, stulpe, from Old Norse stólpi (“post, pillar”), from Proto-Germanic *stulpô.

Alternative forms

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Noun

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stoop (plural stoops)

  1. (dialect) A post or pillar, especially a gatepost or a support in a mine.
Derived terms
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Anagrams

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