Meanings
plural stopples
- biologyA projection or lid in a pollen grain that falls away to allow the passage of the pollen tube.
present singular third person stopples · participle present stoppling · participle past stoppled · past stoppled
- transitiveTo plug; to stop up.
Shut your mouth, dame, / Or with this paper shall I stopple it.
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 V, scene iii]
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
nounblockage consisting of an object designed to fill a hole tightly
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchestopail
- Middle Englishstopple
- Englishstopple
From Middle English stopple, stoppel, stoppell, from Old French estopail, estopaille. By surface analysis, stop + -le.
More words from Middle English, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with stopple
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
stopple. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stopple
“stopple.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stopple. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stopple,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stopple.
Source: stopple on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.