# stoop

Pronunciation: say "STOOP" /stuːp/

## Verb

1. To bend the top half of the body forward and down, sometimes also bending the knees.
   - Simple: To bend your body forward and down, as if to pick something up.
   - _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._
2. 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.
   - Simple: To lower yourself by doing something below your standards, or by coming down from a high position to deal with 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._
5. Of a hawk, falcon or other bird of prey, to swoop down on its prey.
   - Simple: Of a hunting bird, to fly down fast to catch an animal.
   - _The peregrine stooped from high above the cliffs and struck the pigeon in midair._
   - _Falconers love to watch a trained bird stoop at a lure swung on a cord._
7. To tilt something so that it leans downward.
   - Simple: To tip something so that one end is lower.
8. To make someone submit, or to bring them low and lay them prostrate.
   - Simple: To make someone give in, or to knock them down flat.

## Noun

3. A doorstep, or a short flight of steps with a landing or small porch, at the entrance to a house or building. *(dialectal, Canada, New Jersey, New York)*
   - Simple: A step or set of steps at a building's front door, sometimes with a landing or small porch.
   - _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._
4. A position in which the body is bent forward and down.
   - Simple: A way of standing or moving with your back bent forward.
   - _Years at a desk had given him a slight stoop._
   - _With a quick stoop she scooped the coin off the sidewalk._
6. A rapidly accelerating dive in flight, such as one made to attack.
   - Simple: A very fast drop through the air, like a hawk diving to attack.
   - _The falcon folded its wings and went into a stoop that ended in a burst of feathers._
   - _In a full stoop, a peregrine is faster than any other animal._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To yield or submit, to bend under compulsion, or to take a position of humility or subjection.
- (noun) A pillar or post, in particular a gatepost or a prop supporting part of a mine.
- (noun) A vessel for holding liquids, similar to a flagon but without a spout.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–8** — The Proto-Indo-European root *(s)tewb- ("to knock, push, butt") gave Proto-Germanic *stūpōną ("to stand out"), which became Old English stūpian ("to bow, bend") and then Middle English stoupen. Steep is a comparable word, and Dutch stuipen ("to bend the upper body forward") and Old Norse stúpa ("to stoop") are relatives.
**Meaning 3** — Stoop and stoep are doublets in English, both from Dutch stoep ("platform, pavement"). Stoop is also related to step.

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