Wiktionary

swoop

English

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Etymology

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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

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  • enPR: swūp, IPA(key): /ˈswuːp/
  • (obsolete) enPR: sūp, IPA(key): /ˈsuːp/[1]
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -uːp

Verb

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swoop (third-person singular simple present swoops, present participle swooping, simple past and past participle swooped)

  1. (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.
  2. (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.
  3. (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?
  4. (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.
  5. (intransitive) To pass with pomp; to sweep.
  6. (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

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Noun

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swoop (plural swoops)

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. (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

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎[1], volumes I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 7.31, page 212.
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