# swoop
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English swopen, from Old English swāpan (“to sweep”). Doublet of swaip. See also sweep, which was probably the basis for analogical restoration of /w/ in this word.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: swūp, IPA: /ˈswuːp/
* (obsolete) enPR: sūp, IPA: /ˈsuːp/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -uːp

### Verb

swoop (third-person singular simple present swoops, present participle swooping, simple past and past participle swooped)
* (intransitive) To fly or glide downwards suddenly; to plunge (in the air) or nosedive.
    The lone eagle swooped down into the lake, snatching its prey, a small fish.
* (intransitive) To move swiftly, as if with a sweeping movement, especially to attack something.
    The dog had enthusiastically swooped down on the bone.
** 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:There was a person called Nana who ruled the nursery. Sometimes she took no notice of the playthings lying about, and sometimes, for no reason whatever, she went swooping about like a great wind and hustled them away in cupboards.
** 2022 January 12, Howard Johnston, “Regional News: Scotland”, in RAIL, number 948, page 19:Bridge of Weir: Protection of the site of the former Kilmacolm branch station (closed on January 3 1983) has been lifted, and developers have swooped in with plans for new housing.
* (transitive) To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing.
** Quoted in 1971, The Scriblerian (volumes 4-5, page 2)
    And his Eagles, which can with the same ease as a kite swoops a chicken, snatch up a strong built Chamber of wood 12 foot square, & well crampt & fortified with Iron, with all its furniture, & a man besides, & carry it to the Clouds?
* (transitive) To seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep.
** 1661, Joseph Glanvill, “An Apology for Philosophy”, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, page 247:Thus the Phyſitian looks with another Eye on the Medicinal hearb, then the grazing Oxe, which ſwoops it in with the common graſs: […]
** 1670, John Dryden, The Conquest of Granada:And now at last you come to swoop it all.
* (intransitive) To pass with pomp; to sweep.
** 1612, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, published 1613, →OCLC, page 6:Proude Tamer swoopes along, with such a lustie traine / As fits so brave a flood two Countries that divides: […]
* (British, prison slang) To search the ground for discarded cigarette butts that can be made into new cigarettes.
** 1989, Michael Bettsworth, Marking Time: A Prison Memoir, page 32:He was forever diving into dustbins or swooping on to the ground for cigarette ends.
** 2015, Noel 'Razor' Smith, The Criminal Alphabet: An A-Z of Prison Slang:Swooping is picking up discarded cigarette butts from the exercise yard and anywhere else they can be found.

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

swoop (plural swoops)
* An instance, or the act of suddenly plunging downward.
    The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. – Sun Tzu
** 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit:One evening, when the Boy was going to bed, he couldn't find the china dog that always slept with him. Nana was in a hurry, and it was too much trouble to hunt for china dogs at bedtime, so she simply looked about her, and seeing that the toy cupboard door stood open, she made a swoop.
** 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 151:The switchback road to Diabaig - pronounced 'Jer-vague' - passes through some of the most exhilarating scenery in Scotland. […] With a final swoop, the road plummets down into Diabaig, where cottages are dotted across the slopes of a rocky semi-circle.
* A sudden act of seizing.
** 1612, John Webster, The White Devil:Fortune's a right whore. If she give ought, she deals it in small parcels, that she may take away all at one swoop.
* (music) A quick passage from one note to the next.
** 2008, Russell Dean Vines, Composing Digital Music For Dummies, page 281:Originally, computers' attempts at making music were recognizable by their beeps and boops and weird swoops.

#### Translations
### See also

* one fell swoop

### References

* ↑ Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎, volumes I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 7.31, page 212.