Stop definition
Stopped the check.
A regular stop on my delivery route; a bus stop.
Stopped me and asked directions.
The rain stopped us from continuing the argument.
An invitation to dinner stopped him from going to the movies.
The clock stopped in the night.
Had to stop at an exciting place in the book.
Stop by at a friend's house; stop in at the office; stop off at the gas station.
Can't you put a stop to all this ruckus? Production is at a stop.
A sail stop.
A stop code.
- To halt the progress of (a person, animal, vehicle, etc.)
- To check (a blow, stroke, or thrust); parry; counter.
- To defeat (an opponent)
- To intercept (a letter, etc.) in transit.
- To baffle; perplex; nonplus.
Stop talking.
Stop that racket.
To stop a subscription.
- A plug or stopper.
- An order to withhold payment on a check.
- A mechanical part that stops, limits, or regulates motion, as a pawl.
- (chiefly brit.) A punctuation mark, esp. a period.
A stop signal.
The riots stopped when police moved in.
Soon the rain will stop.
The sight of the armed men stopped him in his tracks.
This guy is a fraudster. I need to stop the cheque I wrote him.
The referees stopped the fight.
To stop with a friend.
He stopped for two weeks at the inn.
The stop in a bulldog's face is very marked.
We made a stop in Austin.
An example of to stop is a dam keeping water from flowing in a river.
An example of to stop is to apply the car's brakes and the car stands still at a red light.
The tea leaves stopped the drain.
My nose is stopped up.
Stop supplies from getting through.
He stopped his complaining.
- to apply maximum effort; use every means possible
- to cause to cease; stop; end
- to be ruthlessly resolute in pursuing an end
- to reduce the lens aperture by adjustment of the diaphragm
- to stop for a short stay en route to a place
- to interrupt one's education as in order to work
- to block out (areas not to be printed or painted) as of a silk-screen design
- to visit for a while
- to break a journey, as for rest
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
Origin of stop
- Middle English stoppen from Old English -stoppian probably from Vulgar Latin stuppāre to caulk from Latin stuppa tow, broken flax from Greek stuppē
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Middle English stoppe, from Old English stoppa (“bucket, pail, a stop"), from Proto-Germanic *stuppô (“vat, vessel"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teub- (“to push, hit; stick, stump"). Cognate with Norwegian stopp, stoppa (“deep well, recess"), Middle High German stubech, stübich ("barrel, vat, unit of measure"; > German Stübchen). Related also to Middle Low German stōp (“beaker, flask"), Middle High German stouf (“beaker, flask"), Norwegian staupa (“goblet"), Icelandic staupa (“shot-glass"), Old English stÄ“ap (“a stoup, beaker, drinking vessel, cup, flagon"). Cognate to Albanian shtambë (“amphora, bucket"). See stoup.
From Wiktionary
- From Middle English stoppen, stoppien, from Old English stoppian (“to stop, close"), from Proto-Germanic *stuppōnÄ… (“to stop, close"), *stuppijanÄ… (“to push, pierce, prick"), from Proto-Indo-European *stÁb(h)-, *stemb(h)- (“to support, stamp, become angry, be amazed"). Cognate with 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 stoppe (“to stop"), Swedish & Icelandic stoppa (“to stop"), Middle High German stupfen, stüpfen (“to pierce"). More at stuff, stump.
From Wiktionary
- Alternate etymology derives Proto-Germanic *stuppōnÄ… from an assumed Vulgar Latin *stÅ«pāre, *stuppāre (“to stop up with tow"), from stÅ«pa, stÄ«pa, stuppa (“tow, flax, oakum"), from Ancient Greek στύπη (stýpÄ“), στύππη (stýppÄ“, “tow, flax, oakum"), from Proto-Indo-European *steyÉ™- (“to thicken, clump up, condense"). 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.
From Wiktionary