# mop

Pronunciation: say "MOP" US /mɑp/, UK /mɒp/

## Noun

1. A cleaning implement made of cloth, or a bundle of coarse yarn or thrums, fastened to a handle and used for washing floors.
   - Simple: A tool for cleaning floors, made of cloth or yarn fastened to a long handle.
   - _The janitor wrung out the mop over a steel bucket._
   - _A string mop works better than a sponge for large spills._
3. A thick, dense head of hair.
   - Simple: A thick, untidy pile of hair on someone's head.
   - _He shook his shaggy mop and grinned at the camera._
   - _The toddler's red mop bounced as she ran._
4. A wash given with a mop; an act of mopping.
   - Simple: A quick clean of the floor using a mop.
   - _The tiles got a thorough mop before the inspection._
   - _She finished the cleaning with a fast mop of the entryway._
5. A paint marker with an extra-wide tip of felt or foam, designed to be squeezed for a heavy flow of paint.
   - Simple: A wide paint pen that you squeeze to push out a thick line of ink.
   - _She loaded the mop with paint and dragged one wide stroke across the canvas._
   - _Writers favor the mop for its fast, saturated flow._
6. A deliberately made face; a grimace.
   - Simple: A funny or ugly face made on purpose.
   - _He answered her scolding with a defiant mop._
   - _The jester's exaggerated mop drew laughter from the court._
7. A person given to drunkenness; a habitual drunkard. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A person who often drinks too much alcohol.
   - _Her uncle was a notorious mop who could rarely stay sober past noon._
   - _The regulars wrote him off as a hopeless mop._
9. A firearm, especially one fitted with a large magazine. *(dialectal, Multicultural London English)*
   - Simple: A gun, especially one that holds many bullets.
   - _Police recovered a mop with an extended magazine at the scene._
   - _He flashed a mop tucked into his waistband._
10. Fellatio; oral stimulation of the penis. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Oral sex performed on a man.
   - _He kept dropping hints that he wanted a mop._
   - _She made it clear that a mop was off the table._
11. In former times, a yearly fair at which people seeking work as servants were hired. *(dialectal, British, West Midlands)*
   - Simple: A yearly country fair where people went to find work as servants.
   - _Servants gathered at the mop hoping a farmer would take them on for the year._
   - _The town's annual mop drew laborers from miles around._
13. A set of ropes strung in a row and dragged across the seabed so that starfish become caught in them.
   - Simple: A line of ropes pulled along the sea floor to catch starfish.
   - _Oyster farmers towed a mop over the beds to clear out starfish._
   - _The boat trailed a mop along the bottom for several hours._

## Verb

2. To use a mop, or something used like one, to clean, wipe, rub, or scrub a surface.
   - Simple: To clean or wipe a surface using a mop.
   - _He mopped the kitchen floor right after dinner._
   - _Please mop the hallway before the guests arrive._
8. To steal merchandise from a store; to shoplift. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: To steal things from a store without paying.
   - _The teens dared each other to mop something from the mall._
   - _She mopped a lipstick and slipped it into her bag._
12. To twist the mouth into a wry expression.
   - Simple: To make a funny or twisted face with your mouth.
   - _She mopped at her reflection, twisting her lips into a sneer._
   - _The actors would mop and grimace to amuse the crowd._

## Noun

14. A tassel worn in a buttonhole to indicate one's occupation at a hiring fair. *(obsolete, British)*
   - Simple: A tassel worn in a buttonhole to show what job a worker did at a hiring fair.
   - _A carter would sport a mop of whipcord so farmers knew his skill._
   - _She fastened a small mop to her collar before joining the hiring line._
15. The young or offspring of any animal. *(obsolete, British)*
   - Simple: The baby or young one of any kind of animal.
16. A young girl; a moppet. *(obsolete, British)*
   - Simple: A little girl or young child.
   - _The shy mop hid behind her grandmother's chair._
   - _Their youngest, a cheerful mop of six, chattered all the way home._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–5, 7–11, 13–14** — From Middle English mappe (also mappel), perhaps borrowed from Walloon mappe ("napkin"), from Latin mappa ("napkin, cloth"). This is believed to come from a Semitic source, variously claimed as Phoenician or Punic. It is a doublet of map, nape, and nappe.
**Meanings 6, 12, 15–16** — From Middle English moppe ("fool, simpleton; child, baby, doll"), of obscure origin, though it may be compared with Proto-West Germanic *mauwu ("pout, protruding lip") and related to the verb mope.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mop (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).