stoop
UK /stuːp/ · US /stup/ noun, verb
Also a form of stoup
Forms stoops stooping stooped stoup stowp
- noun A stooping, bent position of the body. “The old man walked with a stoop.”
- noun An accelerated descent in flight, as that for an attack.
- verb To bend the upper part of the body forward and downward to a half-squatting position; crouch. “He stooped to tie his shoe-laces.”
- verb To 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?”
- verb (intransitive) Of a bird of prey: to swoop down on its prey.
- verb (transitive) To cause to incline downward; to slant. “to stoop a cask of liquor”
- verb (transitive) To cause to submit; to prostrate.
- verb To yield; to submit; to bend, as by compulsion; to assume a position of humility or subjection.
- verb To descend from rank or dignity; to condescend.
- noun A vessel for holding liquids; like a flagon but without the spout.
- noun (architecture, chiefly New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, also Canada) The staircase and landing or porch leading to the entrance of a residence.
- noun (architecture, US) The threshold of a doorway; a doorstep.
- noun (dialect) A post or pillar, especially a gatepost or a support in a mine.
Synonyms
hunch bend down crouch squat porch verandah step doorstep stoup stoep bend bow condescend lower oneself
Etymology
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”).
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”).
Borrowed from Dutch stoep (“platform", "pavement”). Doublet of stoep. Cognate with step.
From Middle English stoupe, stulpe, from Old Norse stólpi (“post, pillar”), from Proto-Germanic *stulpô.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Originally, a covered porch with seats, at a house door; the Dutch stoep as introduced by the Dutch into New York. Afterward, an out-of-door flight of stairs of from seven to fourteen steps, with platform and parapets, leading to an entrance door some distance above the street; the French perron. Hence, any porch, platform, entrance stairway, or small veranda, at a house door. [U. S.]
- noun A vessel of liquor; a flagon. [Written also stoup.]
- noun A post fixed in the earth. [Prov. Eng.]
- verb To bend the upper part of the body downward and forward; to bend or lean forward; to incline forward in standing or walking; to assume habitually a bent position.
Etymology [D. stoep.]
Etymology [OE. stope, Icel. staup; akin to AS. steáp, D. stoop, G. stauf, OHG. stouph.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stoop”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details