mop

Pluralmops

Formsmops, mopping, mopped

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A cleaning implement made of cloth, or a bundle of coarse yarn or thrums, fastened to a handle and used for washing floors.

   The janitor wrung out the mop over a steel bucket.

   A string mop works better than a sponge for large spills.

   Note

   The cleaning mop began as a cloth: Middle English mappe, probably through Walloon mappe, "napkin," from Latin mappa, "napkin, cloth." It is a different word from the mop that means a pulled face or a little girl, which only share its spelling. The head may be one piece of cloth or a bundle of thrums, the loose ends of yarn. A string mop is the second kind.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To use a mop, or something used like one, to clean, wipe, rub, or scrub a surface.

   He mopped the kitchen floor right after dinner.

   Please mop the hallway before the guests arrive.

   Similarwash, clean, wipe, scrub, swab

   Note

   Here the tool becomes the action, and the action soon outgrows the tool: you mop a floor, but you also mop your face with a handkerchief. It takes an object, and its spelling doubles the p in mopped and mopping. A separate word, from Middle English moppe, gives the grimacing verb. Making a wry mouth is a homograph of this sense, not an extension of it.

3. 3
   nounhumorouscountable or uncountable

   A thick, dense head of hair.

   He shook his shaggy mop and grinned at the camera.

   The toddler's red mop bounced as she ran.

   Similarmane, shock, thatch

4. 4
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A wash given with a mop; an act of mopping.

   The tiles got a thorough mop before the inspection.

   She finished the cleaning with a fast mop of the entryway.

   Similarwash, wipe, clean

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A paint marker with an extra-wide tip of felt or foam, designed to be squeezed for a heavy flow of paint.

   She loaded the mop with paint and dragged one wide stroke across the canvas.

   Writers favor the mop for its fast, saturated flow.

   Note

   A graffiti writer's tool, named for its resemblance to the floor mop: a wide, soaked head pushed across a surface. The squeeze body drives the paint out fast, and the extra-wide felt or foam tip lays down broad strokes rather than fine lines. Outside graffiti and street art, the same object is usually just called a paint marker.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A deliberately made face; a grimace.

   He answered her scolding with a defiant mop.

   The jester's exaggerated mop drew laughter from the court.

   Similargrimace, pout, scowl

   Note

   The grimace almost always travels with a partner: mop and mow, a jingle for mocking faces. Shakespeare's The Tempest promises spirits "here with mop and mow," and Fletcher and Massinger's The Pilgrim (c. 1621) has "What mops and mowes it makes!" The Middle English moppe could mean a derisive gesture, and a possible Germanic root for "pout, protruding lip" fits this sense closely.

7. 7
   nounslangcountable or uncountable

   A person given to drunkenness; a habitual drunkard.

   Her uncle was a notorious mop who could rarely stay sober past noon.

   The regulars wrote him off as a hopeless mop.

   Similardrunk, drunkard, lush, alcoholic

   Oppositeteetotaler

   Note

   Slang for a heavy drinker, with a down-at-heel, rural flavor in Folk-say (1931): "He was a drunken mop always." It usually appears with an intensifying adjective such as drunken or hopeless. Today it would puzzle most listeners, who hear only the cleaning tool.

8. 8
   verbslangUStransitive

   To steal merchandise from a store; to shoplift.

   The teens dared each other to mop something from the mall.

   She mopped a lipstick and slipped it into her bag.

   Similarsteal, shoplift, pinch, swipe, lift

   Note

   American slang, narrow enough to need explaining even in print. Martha Gever, Pratibha Parmar and John Greyson's Queer Looks (2013) sets "mopping" apart and adds "stealing" beside it. The object is the goods taken: you mop clothes and accessories, not the store. Outside the circles that use it, say shoplift, because most listeners will otherwise hear the cleaning verb.

9. 9
   noundialectalMulticultural London Englishcountable or uncountable

   A firearm, especially one fitted with a large magazine.

   Police recovered a mop with an extended magazine at the scene.

   He flashed a mop tucked into his waistband.

   Similargun, firearm, piece, iron, gat

   Note

   Street slang shared by African-American Vernacular English and Multicultural London English. M24's "Plugged In" (2021) uses it for the gun someone is shot with. It sits beside broom, another cleaning tool turned gun word, though it may also echo MP. The large magazine is the point, so it is not a neutral word for any gun. Outside that slang it reads as a conscious borrowing.

10. 10
    nounslanguncountable

    Fellatio; oral stimulation of the penis.

    He kept dropping hints that he wanted a mop.

    She made it clear that a mop was off the table.

    Note

    Crude sexual slang heard in song lyrics, as in Lil Tjay's "Laneswitch" (2019), where the speaker asks to be given it. It is uncountable and typically used without an article. That grammar sets it apart from the household senses. It belongs only to explicit, very casual speech and is offensive anywhere else.

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