Word: stop Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English stoppen, stoppien, from Old English stoppian (“to stop, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn, from Proto-Germanic *stuppōną (“to stop, close”), *stuppijaną (“to push, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp-, *(s)tewb- (“to push; stick”), from *(s)tew- (“to bump; impact; butt; push; beat; strike; hit”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian stopje (“to stop, block”), West Frisian stopje (“to stop”), Dutch stoppen (“to stop”), Low German stoppen (“to stop”), German stopfen (“to be filling, stuff”), German stoppen (“to stop”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål stoppe (“to stop”), Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish stoppa (“to stop”), Middle High German stupfen, stüpfen (“to pierce”). More at stuff, stump. Alternative etymology derives Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn from an assumed Vulgar Latin *stūpāre, *stuppāre (“to stop up with tow”), from stūpa, stīpa, stuppa (“tow, flax, oakum”), from Ancient Greek στύπη (stúpē), στύππη (stúppē, “tow, flax, oakum”). This derivation, however, is doubtful, as the earliest instances of the Germanic verb do not carry the meaning of "stuff, stop with tow". Rather, these senses developed later in response to influence from similar sounding words in Latin and Romance. Pronunciation: /stɒp/, /stɔp/, /stɑp/, [stɔ̟p], /(ɪ)sʈɔp/ 1. To cease moving. Labels: intransitive Example: I stopped at the traffic lights. 2. Not to continue. Labels: intransitive Example: The riots stopped when police moved in. Example: Soon the rain will stop. 3. To cause (something) to cease moving or progressing. Labels: transitive Example: The sight of the armed men stopped him in his tracks. Example: This guy is a fraudster. I need to stop the cheque I wrote him. 4. To cease; to no longer continue. Labels: transitive Example: One of the wrestlers suddenly stopped fighting. 5. To cause (something) to come to an end. Labels: transitive Example: The referees stopped the fight. 6. To interrupt, prevent or end the activity of someone or something. Labels: causative, transitive Example: Don't let me stop you working. Example: When they have finished the milk they must be patted and squeezed to stop them exploding. 7. To close or block an opening. Labels: transitive Example: He stopped the wound with gauze. Example: Rotten leaves and branches have stopped the gutter. 8. To adjust the aperture of a camera lens. Labels: intransitive, often, transitive Example: To achieve maximum depth of field, he stopped down to an f-stop of 22. 9. To stay; to spend a short time; to reside or tarry temporarily. Labels: intransitive Example: to stop with a friend Example: He stopped for two weeks at the inn. 10. To regulate the sounds of (musical strings, etc.) by pressing them against the fingerboard with the finger, or otherwise shortening the vibrating part. 11. To punctuate. Labels: obsolete Example: [Francesco] Guicciardini, if his sentences were properly stopt, would be found in general both full and concise, whatever may be asserted to the contrary by the fastidious and inattentive. 12. To make fast; to stopper. 13. To pronounce (a phoneme) as a stop. Labels: transitive Example: th-stopping 14. To delay the purchase or sale of (a stock) while agreeing the price for later. Labels: transitive Example: It will be noted that the specialist would have refused to stop the stock for broker X if he (the specialist) had only one order to sell at 85. 15. To take out of service for repair, servicing or examination. Example: The mechanical foreman is also present, and he gives a progress report of engines under repair and those stopped for their periodical routine examination. 16. To quit partaking in the use of or participation in (something). Example: She stopped heroin last year. Example: He stopped football to focus on acting.