stop
/stɒp/ verb, noun
Forms stops stopping stopped stoppest stoppedst stoppeth stap stahp stawp
- verb (intransitive) To cease moving. “I stopped at the traffic lights.”
- verb (intransitive) Not to continue. “The riots stopped when police moved in.”
- verb (transitive) To cause (something) to cease moving or progressing. “The sight of the armed men stopped him in his tracks.”
- verb (transitive) To cease; to no longer continue. “One of the wrestlers suddenly stopped fighting.”
- verb (transitive) To cause (something) to come to an end. “The referees stopped the fight.”
- verb (causative, transitive) To interrupt, prevent or end the activity of someone or something. [with direct object, along with gerund (chiefly UK) or direct object, along with from, along with gerund (chiefly US)] “Don't let me stop you working.”
- verb (transitive) To close or block an opening. “He stopped the wound with gauze.”
- verb (transitive, intransitive, photography, often with “up” or “down”) To adjust the aperture of a camera lens. “To achieve maximum depth of field, he stopped down to an f-stop of 22.”
- noun A (usually marked) place where buses, trams or trains halt to let passengers get on and off, usually smaller than a station. “They agreed to meet at the bus stop.”
- noun An action of stopping; interruption of travel. “That stop was not planned.”
- noun That which stops, impedes, or obstructs; an obstacle; an impediment.
- noun A device intended to block the path of a moving object “door stop”
- noun (engineering) A device, or piece, as a pin, block, pawl, etc., for arresting or limiting motion, or for determining the position to which another part shall be brought.
- noun (architecture) A member, plain or moulded, formed of a separate piece and fixed to a jamb, against which a door or window shuts.
- noun (phonetics) A consonant sound in which the passage of air is temporarily blocked by the lips, tongue, or glottis.
- noun A symbol used for purposes of punctuation and representing a pause or separating clauses, particularly a full stop, comma, colon or semicolon.
- noun (UK dialectal) A small well-bucket; a milk-pail.
- noun (physics) The squark that is the superpartner of a top quark.
Synonyms
brake blin hang about lodge desist halt cease discontinue terminate freeze cancel hang around linger loiter pause stop over anchor astand draw up grind to a halt stoppage stopover layover arrest check hitch stay stop consonant occlusive plosive consonant
Antonyms
keep continue go move proceed accelerate set in motion start
Etymology
From Middle English stoppen, stoppien, from Old English stoppian (“to stop, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn, from Proto-Germanic *stuppōną (“to stop, close”), *stuppijaną (“to push, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp-, *(s)tewb- (“to push; stick”), from *(s)tew- (“to bump; impact; butt; push; beat; strike; hit”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian stopje (“to stop, block”), West Frisian stopje (“to stop”), Dutch stoppen (“to stop”), Low German stoppen (“to stop”), German stopfen (“to be filling, stuff”), German stoppen (“to stop”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål stoppe (“to stop”), Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish stoppa (“to stop”), Middle High German stupfen, stüpfen (“to pierce”). More at stuff, stump.
Alternative etymology derives Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn from an assumed Vulgar Latin *stūpāre, *stuppāre (“to stop up with tow”), from stūpa, stīpa, stuppa (“tow, flax, oakum”), from Ancient Greek στύπη (stúpē), στύππη (stúppē, “tow, flax, oakum”). This derivation, however, is doubtful, as the earliest instances of the Germanic verb do not carry the meaning of "stuff, stop with tow". Rather, these senses developed later in response to influence from similar sounding words in Latin and Romance.
From Middle English stoppe, from Old English stoppa (“bucket, pail, a stop”), from Proto-Germanic *stuppô (“vat, vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teub- (“to push, hit; stick, stump”). See stoup.
Cognate with Norwegian stopp, stoppa (“deep well, recess”), Middle High German stubech, stübich (“barrel, vat, unit of measure”) (German Stübchen). Related also to Middle Low German stōp (“beaker, flask”), Middle High German stouf (“beaker, flask”), Norwegian staupa (“goblet”), Icelandic staupa (“shot-glass”), Old English stēap (“a stoup, beaker, drinking vessel, cup, flagon”). Cognate to Albanian shtambë (“amphora, bucket”).
From s- + top.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To close, as an aperture, by filling or by obstructing; as, to stop the ears; hence, to stanch, as a wound. Shak.
- verb To obstruct; to render impassable; as, to stop a way, road, or passage.
- verb To cease to go on; to halt, or stand still; to come to a stop.
- verb To cease from any motion, or course of action.
Etymology [OE. stoppen, AS. stoppian (in comp.); akin to LG. & D. stoppen, G. stopfen, Icel. stoppa, Sw. stoppa, Dan. stoppe; all probably fr. LL. stopare, stupare, fr. L. stuppa the coarse part of flax, tow, oakum. Cf. Estop, Stuff, Stupe a fomentation.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stop”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details