swoop
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
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.
Inflected forms:
form: swoops
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: swooping
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: swooped
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: swooped
pos: verb
tags: past
form: swoops
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To fly or glide downwards suddenly; to plunge (in the air) or nosedive.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The lone eagle swooped down into the lake, snatching its prey, a small fish.
gloss: To move swiftly, as if with a sweeping movement, especially to attack something.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The dog had enthusiastically swooped down on the bone.
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.
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.
gloss: To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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?
gloss: To seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Thus the Phyſitian looks with another Eye on the Medicinal hearb, then the grazing Oxe, which ſwoops it in with the common graſs: […]
And now at last you come to swoop it all.
gloss: To pass with pomp; to sweep.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Proude Tamer swoopes along, with such a lustie traine / As fits so brave a flood two Countries that divides: […]
gloss: To search the ground for discarded cigarette butts that can be made into new cigarettes.
pos: verb
tags: UK
slang
examples: He was forever diving into dustbins or swooping on to the ground for cigarette ends.
Swooping is picking up discarded cigarette butts from the exercise yard and anywhere else they can be found.
gloss: An instance, or the act of suddenly plunging downward.
pos: noun
examples: The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. – Sun Tzu
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.
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.
gloss: A sudden act of seizing.
pos: noun
examples: Fortune's a right whore. If she give ought, she deals it in small parcels, that she may take away all at one swoop.
gloss: A quick passage from one note to the next.
pos: noun
examples: Originally, computers' attempts at making music were recognizable by their beeps and boops and weird swoops.
Related words: one fell swoop
Derived words: swooper
swoopingly
swoopstake
swoopy
Translations: