mop

plural mops

1. countableuncountableAn implement for washing floors or similar, made of a piece of cloth, or a collection of thrums, or coarse yarn, fastened to a handle.
2. countableuncountableA wash with a mop; the act of mopping.

   He gave the floor a quick mop to soak up the spilt juice.

3. countablehumorousuncountableA dense head of hair.

   He ran a comb through his mop and hurried out the door.

   1 more example

   The hair is very peculiar, being harsh, dry, and frizzly, growing in little tufts or curls, which in youth are very short and compact, but afterwards grow out to a considerable length, forming the compact frizzled mop which is the Papuans' pride and glory.

   1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 445

4. UKWest MidlandscountabledialectaluncountableAn annual fair where servants were historically hired.

   I means to goo to th' mop, 'er sez, fur I waants a chahinge.[…]'T wuz to w:Muckley mop 'er went.

   1897, Hamilton Kingsford, Vigornian Monologues: A Series of Papers in Illustration of the Dialect of Worcestershire, page 18

   2 more examples

   The Mop Fairs attracted the attention of moralists. The hiring system was seen as a means to acquire girls for prostitution; although there is no evidence that this occurred in Stratford, where girls plying for hire were generally accompanied by their formidable mothers.

   2014 August 15, Nicholas Fogg, Stratford-upon-Avon: The Biography

   Mop Fairs: Today's annual events are the modern version of the old hiring fairs, where people attended seeking employment or to change it. They are named after the practice of hopefully skilled employees carrying tassels, known as mops, in their buttonholes indicating their occupation. Those who had no trade carried a mop head. At the end of the following week, they could change employers or employees, at what was called the Runaway Mop.

   2022, Graham Sutherland, Secret Warwick

5. UKcountableobsoleteuncountableA tassel worn in a buttonhole to indicate ones occupation in such a fair.

   1 more example

   Mop Fairs: Today's annual events are the modern version of the old hiring fairs, where people attended seeking employment or to change it. They are named after the practice of hopefully skilled employees carrying tassels, known as mops, in their buttonholes indicating their occupation. Those who had no trade carried a mop head. At the end of the following week, they could change employers or employees, at what was called the Runaway Mop.

   2022, Graham Sutherland, Secret Warwick

6. Multicultural London EnglishcountableslanguncountableAfrican-American VernacularA firearm particularly if it has a large magazine (compare broom, but still can be related to MP)

   Mainstream in this ting but I'm fully on opps Got shot with a mop but that boy never dropped

   2021 July 4, M24, “Plugged In”, Fumez the Engineer (music), 2:16–2:19

   Synonyms: firearm, gat, gun, iron, piece

7. slanguncountableFellatio.

   Had his thot give me mop in the back of my Bimmer

   2019, “Laneswitch”, in True 2 Myself, performed by Lil Tjay

8. countableuncountableartsA squeezable high-flow paint marker with an extra-wide felt or foam tip.
9. countableuncountablefishingA row of ropes dragged along the seabed for catching starfish.
10. countableslanguncountableA drunkard.

    Left his pa's farm and is now working at the city water works. Some say he's got to drink 'cause he works with blue vitriol and that kind of stuff. He was a drunken mop always.

    1931, Folk-say, page 183

present singular third person mops · participle present mopping · participle past mopped · past mopped

1. transitiveTo rub, scrub, clean or wipe with a mop, or as if with a mop.

   to mop (or scrub) a floor

   2 more examples

   to mop one's face with a handkerchief

   There was a staircase at the end of the hallway, and as I stood mopping my brow (only now did I realize how hot it had been out-of-doors) and staring, to stare at something, at an old gray tennis ball that lay on an oak chest, there came from the upper landing the contralto voice of Mrs. Haze, who leaning over the banisters inquired melodiously, “Is that Monsieur Humbert?” A bit of cigarette ash dropped from there in addition.

   1955 September 15, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 10, in Lolita, Paris: The Olympia Press […], →OCLC

2. USslangTo shoplift.

   By “mopping” (stealing) the clothes and accessories necessary to effect their look, or by buying breasts, reconstructed noses, lifted chins, and female genitals, the children turn traditional ideas of labor around: […]

   2013, Martha Gever, Pratibha Parmar, John Greyson, Queer Looks, page 111

plural mops

1. UKdialectalobsoleteThe young of any animal.
2. UKdialectalobsoleteA young girl; a moppet.
3. A made-up face; a grimace.

   What mops and mowes it makes! --

   c. 1621, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Pilgrim”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii

   2 more examples

   Before you can say 'Come' and 'Go,' And breathe twice; and cry 'so, so,' Each one, tripping on his toe, Will be here with mop and mow.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

   It looked much prettier than before, but still maintained the elfish cast of the eye, like his father, whilst two or three children more had undergone a strange metamorphosis. For there sat on either side the bed's head, a couple of little flat-nosed imps, who with "mops and mows," and with many a grimace and grin, were busied to no end in scratching their own polls, or in pulling the fairy lady's ears with their long and hairy paws.

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 302

present singular third person mops · participle present mopping · participle past mopped · past mopped

1. intransitiveTo make a wry expression with the mouth.

   Flibbertigibbet, [is scared of] moping and mowing, who since possesses chambermaids and waiting-women

   c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

   1 more example

   There were women and children as well as men in the place, and all, ragged and half naked, mopped and mowed at the passers, or, leaping to their feet, defied them with unspeakable words and gestures.

   1904, Stanley J. Weyman, “XII. The Peasants' Camp”, in The Abbess of Vlaye

plural MOPs · alternative MoP

1. UScountableuncountablegovernmentGBU-57; Acronym of Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

   The MOP — a 30,000-pound bomb with 6,000 pounds of explosives — was designed for “reaching and destroying our adversaries’ weapons of mass destruction located in well-protected facilities,” according to a fact sheet from the US Air Force.

   2025 June 21, Kevin Liptak, “Strikes on Iranian nuclear sites thrust US into escalating Middle East conflict”, in CNN

2. MarxismabbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableeconomicsInitialism of means of production.
3. MarxismabbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableeconomicsInitialism of mode of production.
4. InternetabbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of method of payment.

   Item: TWICELAND Fantasy Park Photobook (Sealed) / Price: 800 pesos only / DOP: PAYO / MOD: SCO or GGX / MOP: BPI or Gcash

   2023 February 28, Teudoongie Shop (@TeudoongieShop), Twitter

5. abbreviationcountableinitialismobsoleteuncountableInitialism of muriate of potash.
6. abbreviationacronymcountableuncountableAcronym of member of the public.

1. MarxismeconomicsAlternative letter-case form of MOP (“means of production”).
2. MarxismeconomicsAlternative letter-case form of MOP (“mode of production”).