stoop

plural stoops

1. A stooping, bent position of the body.

   The old man walked with a stoop.

   1 more example

   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.

   2011, Phil McNulty, Euro 2012: Montenegro 2-2 England

   Synonyms: hunch

2. An accelerated descent in flight, as that for an attack.

   At length the hawk got the upper hand, and made a rushing stoop at her quarry

   1819, “Bracebridge Hall”, in Hawking, Washington Irving

present singular third person stoops · participle present stooping · participle past stooped · past 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.

   3 more examples

   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.

   1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC

   Another misty bus-queue morning / Faces smile down from a hoarding / Stoop to the bin, drop something in

   1982, Thomas Dolby, “Leipzig”, in The Golden Age of Wireless

   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.

   2010 December 28, Kevin Darlin, “West Brom 1 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC

2. figurativelyTo lower oneself; to demean oneself in doing 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. intransitiveOf a bird of prey: to swoop down on its prey.

   Presently the bird stooped and seized a salmon, and a violent struggle ensued.

   1882, [1875], Thomas Bewick, James Reiveley, William Harvey, The Parlour Menagerie, 4th edition, page 63

   1 more example

   the holy eagle Stoop'd, as to foote vs: his Ascension is More sweet then our blest Fields

   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]

4. transitiveTo cause to incline downward; to slant.

   to stoop a cask of liquor

5. transitiveTo cause to submit; to prostrate.

   Many of those whose states so tempt thine ears / Are stoopt by death; and many left alive.

   1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume (please specify the book number), London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC

6. To yield; to submit; to bend, as by compulsion; to assume a position of humility or subjection.

   The grasse stoops not, she treads on it so light

   1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC

   2 more examples

   Mighty in her ships stood Carthage long, […] / Yet stooped to Rome, less wealthy, but more strong.

   1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number)

   Theſe, theſe are Arts, my Prince, / In which your Zama does not ſtoop to Rome.

   1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iv, page 9

7. To descend from rank or dignity; to condescend.

   Where men of great wealth do stoop to husbandry, it multiplieth riches exceedingly.

   1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Riches”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC

plural stoops · alternative stoup · alternative stowp

1. A vessel for holding liquids; like a flagon but without the spout.

plural stoops

1. CanadaNew JerseyNew YorkalsoConnecticutarchitectureThe staircase and landing or porch leading to the entrance of a residence.

   ...the entrance being at the side of the house and reached by a low front stoop with four or five risers...

   1905 Carpentry and Building, vol. 27 (January 1905), NY: David Williams Company, page 2

   2 more examples

   Nearly all the houses were built with their gables to the streets and each had heavy wooden Dutch stoops, with seats, at its door.

   1856, James Fenimore Cooper, Satanstoe or The Littlepage Manuscripts: A Tale of the Colony, London, page 110

   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.

   2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 22 May 2024

   Synonyms: porch, verandah

2. USarchitectureThe threshold of a doorway; a doorstep.

   She grins at me and lifts her walker over the stoop.

   1999, Nora Gallagher, Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith, page 115

   3 more examples

   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.

   1902, Gustav Kobbé, Signora: a child of the opera house, page 15

   You better hurry up and get strong, if you going to carry me across the stoop.

   1975, Laurraine Goreau, Just Mahalia, Baby: The Mahalia Jackson Story, page 248

   Holding her breath while she set one foot over the stoop and followed it up into the house

   1997, Peter S. Feibleman, A place without twilight, page 15

   Synonyms: step, doorstep

plural stoops · alternative stoup

1. dialectalA post or pillar, especially a gatepost or a support in a mine.