stoop

Formsstoops, stooping, stooped

Pluralstoops

1. 1
   verbintransitive

   To bend the top half of the body forward and down, sometimes also bending the knees.

   She stooped to pick up the letter that had slipped under the door.

   The doorway is so low that tall visitors have to stoop as they enter.

   UsageOften stoop down, or stoop to + verb for the reason: stooped to pick up the letter.

   Similarbend, crouch, duck

   Oppositestraighten

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To lower oneself, either by doing something beneath one's dignity, standards or morals, or by setting aside one's rank to come down to the level of others.

   I never thought she would stoop to reading her sister's diary.

   The campaign stooped so low as to spread rumors about her family.

   UsageUsually stoop to + noun or -ing (stoop to lying) or stoop so low as to + verb.

   Similarsink, descend, resort, condescend

3. 3
   noundialectalCanadaNew JerseyNew Yorkcountable

   A doorstep, or a short flight of steps with a landing or small porch, at the entrance to a house or building.

   He waited on the stoop of the brownstone, buzzing the apartment twice.

   On summer nights the whole block sat out on their stoops, trading gossip until midnight.

   UsageUsually on the stoop or the front stoop: people sit out on their stoops.

   Similardoorstep, porch, steps

   Note

   This stoop was borrowed from Dutch stoep, "platform" or "pavement," and is a cousin of step, not of the bending verb. It is chiefly a word of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, also heard in Canada, and the Dutch link shows in James Fenimore Cooper's Satanstoe, where houses have "heavy wooden Dutch stoops, with seats." Elsewhere porch or front steps does the job. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • The architectural noun stoop was borrowed from Dutch stoep. fr.wiktionary.org
   • Dutch stoep means platform or pavement. en.wiktionary.org
   • The architectural noun is etymologically related to step. en.wiktionary.org
   • The architectural noun has a different origin from the bending verb. fr.wiktionary.org
   • James Fenimore Cooper wrote Satanstoe. gutenberg.org
   • Satanstoe describes houses with the exact quoted phrase, in the narrator's account of Albany. gutenberg.org
4. 4
   nouncountable

   A position in which the body is bent forward and down.

   Years at a desk had given him a slight stoop.

   With a quick stoop she scooped the coin off the sidewalk.

   UsageUsually walk with a stoop or have a slight stoop.

   Similarslouch, hunch

   Note

   As a noun it names both a lasting habit of posture and a single movement: someone walks with a stoop or has a slight stoop, while a quick stoop is one bend of the body, like the footballer's "stoop and a nod of the head" that meets a cross at the far post. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The quoted football example describes a player bending to meet a delivery at the far post. en.wiktionary.org

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