n.
[D. stoep.]
(Arch.) Originally, a covered porch with seats, at a house door; the Dutch stoep as introduced by the Dutch into New York. Afterward, an out-of-door flight of stairs of from seven to fourteen steps, with platform and parapets, leading to an entrance door some distance above the street; the French perron. Hence, any porch, platform, entrance stairway, or small veranda, at a house door. [U. S.]
Stoop
n.
[OE. stope, Icel. staup; akin to AS. steáp, D. stoop, G. stauf, OHG. stouph.]
A vessel of liquor; a flagon. [Written also stoup.]
Fetch me a stoop of liquor.Shak.
Stoop
n.
[Cf. Icel. staup a knobby lump.]
A post fixed in the earth. [Prov. Eng.]
Stoop
v. i.
[imp. & p. p. Stooped ; p. pr. & vb. n. Stooping.]
1. To bend the upper part of the body downward and forward; to bend or lean forward; to incline forward in standing or walking; to assume habitually a bent position.
2. To yield; to submit; to bend, as by compulsion; to assume a position of humility or subjection.
Mighty in her ships stood Carthage long, . . .Dryden.
Yet stooped to Rome, less wealthy, but more strong.
These are arts, my prince,Addison.
In which your Zama does not stoop to Rome.
3. To descend from rank or dignity; to condescend. «She stoops to conquer.» Goldsmith.
Where men of great wealth stoop to husbandry, it multiplieth riches exceedingly.Bacon.
4. To come down as a hawk does on its prey; to pounce; to souse; to swoop.
The bird of Jove, stooped from his aëry tour,Milton.
Two birds of gayest plume before him drove.
5. To sink when on the wing; to alight.
And stoop with closing pinions from above.Dryden.
Cowering lowMilton.
With blandishment, each bird stooped on his wing.
Syn. -- To lean; yield; submit; condescend; descend; cower; shrink.
Stoop
v. t.
1. To bend forward and downward; to bow down; as, to stoop the body. «Have stooped my neck.» Shak.
2. To cause to incline downward; to slant; as, to stoop a cask of liquor.
3. To cause to submit; to prostrate. [Obs.]
Many of those whose states so tempt thine earsChapman.
Are stooped by death; and many left alive.
4. To degrade. [Obs.] Shak.
Stoop
n.
1. The act of stooping, or bending the body forward; inclination forward; also, an habitual bend of the back and shoulders.
2. Descent, as from dignity or superiority; condescension; an act or position of humiliation.
Can any loyal subject seeDryden.
With patience such a stoop from sovereignty?
3. The fall of a bird on its prey; a swoop. L'Estrange.
