stooped

1. 1
   verb

   Past tense and past participle of stoop.

   The falcon stooped from a great height and struck the pigeon in midair.

   He had never stooped so low as to read his sister's diary.

   Note

   In the sense of lowering oneself, the verb takes to with a noun or an -ing form (stooped to bribery, stooped to begging), and so low often comes with it: she had never stooped so low. A hawk that stooped, by contrast, has dived on its prey, a sense with no shame in it at all.

2. 2
   adjective

   Holding the body bent forward, with the shoulders or back hunched.

   A stooped figure in a gray coat shuffled along the platform.

   Years at a desk had left him slightly stooped, his shoulders rounded toward the screen.

   Similarbent, bowed

   Oppositeupright, erect, straight

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