swoop
English
Etymology
From Middle English swopen, from Old English swāpan (“to sweep”). See also sweep, which was probably the basis for analogical restoration of /w/ in this word.
Pronunciation
- enPR: swūp, IPA(key): /ˈswuːp/
- (obsolete) enPR: sūp, IPA(key): /ˈsuːp/[1]
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.
- 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit:
- 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?
- Quoted in 1971, The Scriblerian (volumes 4-5, page 2)
- (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. for Henry Eversden […], OCLC 801399482; reprinted in The Vanity of Dogmatizing […] (Series III: Philosophy; 6), New York, N.Y.: For the Facsimile Text Society by Columbia University Press, 1931, OCLC 603189094, 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.
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- (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. Browne; I. Helme; I. Busbie, published 1613, OCLC 1049089293, page 6:
- Proude Tamer swoopes along, with such a lustie traine / As fits so brave a flood two Countries that divides: […]
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- (Britain, 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.
- 1989, Michael Bettsworth, Marking Time: A Prison Memoir (page 32)
Translations
to fly downwards suddenly
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to move swiftly, as if with a sweeping movement
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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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.
- 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.
- 1612, John Webster, The White Devil
- (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.
- 2008, Russell Dean Vines, Composing Digital Music For Dummies (page 281)
Translations
an instance, or the act of suddenly plunging downwards
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an act of rushedly doing something
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passing quickly form one note to the next
See also
- one fell swoop
References
- Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9), volume I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 7.31, page 212.