Stop Definition & Meaning

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    • Synonyms stop American [stop] / stɒp /

    verb (used with object)

    stopped, stopt, stopping

    1. to cease from, leave off, or discontinue.

      to stop running.

      Antonyms: start

    2. to cause to cease; put an end to.

      to stop noise in the street.

      Antonyms: start

    3. to interrupt, arrest, or check (a course, proceeding, process, etc.).

      Stop your work just a minute.

      Antonyms: start

    4. to cut off, intercept, or withhold.

      to stop supplies.

    5. to restrain, hinder, or prevent (usually followed byfrom ).

      I couldn't stop him from going.

      Synonyms: impede, obstruct, thwart

    6. to prevent from proceeding, acting, operating, continuing, etc..

      to stop a speaker; to stop a car.

    7. to block, obstruct, or close (a passageway, channel, opening, duct, etc.) (usually followed byup ).

      He stopped up the sink with a paper towel. He stopped the hole in the tire with a patch.

    8. to fill the hole or holes in (a wall, a decayed tooth, etc.).

    9. to close (a container, tube, etc.) with a cork, plug, bung, or the like.

    10. to close the external orifice of (the ears, nose, mouth, etc.).

    11. Sports.

      1. to check (a stroke, blow, etc.); parry; ward off.

      2. to defeat (an opposing player or team).

        The Browns stopped the Colts.

      3. Boxing. to defeat by a knockout or technical knockout.

        Louis stopped Conn in the 13th round.

    12. Banking. to notify a bank to refuse payment of (a check) upon presentation.

    13. Bridge. to have an honor card and a sufficient number of protecting cards to keep an opponent from continuing to win in (a suit).

    14. Music.

      1. to close (a fingerhole) in order to produce a particular note from a wind instrument.

      2. to press down (a string of a violin, viola, etc.) in order to alter the pitch of the tone produced from it.

      3. to produce (a particular note) by so doing.

    verb (used without object)

    stopped, stopt, stopping

    1. to come to a stand, as in a course or journey; halt.

    2. to cease moving, proceeding, speaking, acting, operating, etc.; to pause; desist.

      Synonyms: quit

    3. to cease; come to an end.

    4. to halt for a brief visit (often followed by at, in, orby ).

      He is stopping at the best hotel in town.

    5. stop by, to make a brief visit on one's way elsewhere.

      I'll stop by on my way home.

    noun

    1. the act of stopping.

    2. a cessation or arrest of movement, action, operation, etc.; end.

      The noise came to a stop. Put a stop to that behavior!

      Synonyms: termination, halt

    3. a stay or sojourn made at a place, as in the course of a journey.

      Above all, he enjoyed his stop in Trieste.

    4. a place where trains or other vehicles halt to take on and discharge passengers.

      Is this a bus stop?

      Synonyms: terminal

    5. a closing or filling up, as of a hole.

    6. a blocking or obstructing, as of a passage or channel.

    7. a plug or other stopper for an opening.

    8. an obstacle, impediment, or hindrance.

    9. any piece or device that serves to check or control movement or action in a mechanism.

      Synonyms: governor

    10. Architecture. a feature terminating a molding or chamfer.

    11. Commerce.

      1. an order to refuse payment of a check.

      2. stop order.

    12. Music.

      1. the act of closing a fingerhole or pressing a string of an instrument in order to produce a particular note.

      2. a device or contrivance, as on an instrument, for accomplishing this.

      3. (in an organ) a graduated set of pipes of the same kind and giving tones of the same quality.

      4. Also called stop knob. a knob or handle that is drawn out or pushed back to permit or prevent the sounding of such a set of pipes or to control some other part of the organ.

      5. (in a reed organ) a group of reeds functioning like a pipe-organ stop.

    13. Sports. an individual defensive play or act that prevents an opponent or opposing team from scoring, advancing, or gaining an advantage, as a catch in baseball, a tackle in football, or the deflection of a shot in hockey.

    14. Nautical. a piece of small line used to lash or fasten something, as a furled sail.

    15. Phonetics.

      1. an articulation that interrupts the flow of air from the lungs.

      2. a consonant sound characterized by stop articulation, as p, b, t, d, k, and g.

    16. Photography. the diaphragm opening of a lens, especially as indicated by an f- number.

    17. Building Trades.

      1. stop bead.

      2. doorstop.

    18. any of various marks used as punctuation at the end of a sentence, especially a period.

    19. the word “stop” printed in the body of a telegram or cablegram to indicate a period.

    20. (used with a singular verb) stops, a family of card games whose object is to play all of one's cards in a predetermined sequence before one's opponents.

    21. Zoology. a depression in the face of certain animals, especially dogs, marking the division between the forehead and the projecting part of the muzzle.

    verb phrase

    1. stop down (on a camera) to reduce (the diaphragm opening of a lens).

    2. stop in to make a brief, incidental visit.

      If you're in town, be sure to stop in.

    3. stop off to halt for a brief stay at some point on the way elsewhere.

      On the way to Rome we stopped off at Florence.

    4. stop over to stop briefly in the course of a journey.

      Many motorists were forced to stop over in that town because of floods.

    5. stop out

      1. to mask (certain areas of an etching plate, photographic negative, etc.) with varnish, paper, or the like, to prevent their being etched, printed, etc.

      2. to withdraw temporarily from school.

        Most of the students who stop out eventually return to get their degrees.

    idioms

    1. pull out all the stops,

      1. to use every means available.

      2. to express, do, or carry out something without reservation.

    stop British / stɒp /

    verb

    1. to cease from doing or being (something); discontinue

      stop talking

    2. to cause (something moving) to halt or (of something moving) to come to a halt

      to stop a car

      the car stopped

    3. (tr) to prevent the continuance or completion of

      to stop a show

    4. to prevent or restrain

      to stop George from fighting

    5. (tr) to keep back

      to stop supplies to the navy

    6. (tr) to intercept or hinder in transit

      to stop a letter

    7. to block or plug, esp so as to close

      to stop up a pipe

    8. to fill a hole or opening in

      to stop up a wall

    9. (tr) to staunch or stem

      to stop a wound

    10. (tr) to instruct a bank not to honour (a cheque)

    11. (tr) to deduct (money) from pay

    12. (tr) to provide with punctuation

    13. (tr) boxing to beat (an opponent) either by a knockout or a technical knockout

    14. informal (tr) to receive (a blow, hit, etc)

    15. (intr) to stay or rest

      we stopped at the Robinsons' for three nights

    16. rare (tr) to defeat, beat, or kill

    17. (tr) music

      1. to alter the vibrating length of (a string on a violin, guitar, etc) by pressing down on it at some point with the finger

      2. to alter the vibrating length of an air column in a wind instrument by closing (a finger hole, etc)

      3. to produce (a note) in this manner

    18. (tr) to place a hand inside (the bell of a French horn) to alter the tone colour and pitch or play (a note) on a French horn in such a manner

    19. bridge to have a protecting card or winner in (a suit in which one's opponents are strong)

    20. to be prepared to do anything; be unscrupulous or ruthless

    "Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

    noun

    1. an arrest of movement or progress

    2. the act of stopping or the state of being stopped

    3. a place where something halts or pauses

      a bus stop

    4. a stay in or as if in the course of a journey

    5. the act or an instance of blocking or obstructing

    6. a plug or stopper

    7. a block, screw, or other device or object that prevents, limits, or terminates the motion of a mechanism or moving part

    8. a punctuation mark, esp a full stop

    9. Also called: stop thrust. fencing a counterthrust made without a parry in the hope that one's blade will touch before one's opponent's blade

    10. short for stop payment stop order

    11. music

      1. the act of stopping the string, finger hole, etc, of an instrument

      2. a set of organ pipes or harpsichord strings that may be allowed to sound as a group by muffling or silencing all other such sets

      3. a knob, lever, or handle on an organ, etc, that is operated to allow sets of pipes to sound

      4. an analogous device on a harpsichord or other instrument with variable registers, such as an electrophonic instrument

      1. to play at full volume

      2. to spare no effort

    13. a stud on a football boot

    14. the angle between the forehead and muzzle of a dog or cat, regarded as a point in breeding

    15. nautical a short length of line or small stuff used as a tie, esp for a furled sail

    16. Also called: stop consonant. phonetics any of a class of consonants articulated by first making a complete closure at some point of the vocal tract and then releasing it abruptly with audible plosion. Stops include the labials (p, b), the alveolars or dentals (t, d), the velars (k, g) Compare continuant

    17. Also called: f-stop. photog

      1. a setting of the aperture of a camera lens, calibrated to the corresponding f-number

      2. another name for diaphragm

    18. a block or carving used to complete the end of a moulding

    19. Also called: stopper. bridge a protecting card or winner in a suit in which one's opponents are strong

    "Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 stop More Idioms

      More idioms and phrases containing stop

      • buck stops here
      • pull out all the stops
      • put an end (a stop) to

    Related Words

    Stop, arrest, check, halt imply causing a cessation of movement or progress (literal or figurative). Stop is the general term for the idea: to stop a clock. Arrest usually refers to stopping by imposing a sudden and complete restraint: to arrest development. Check implies bringing about an abrupt, partial, or temporary stop: to check a trotting horse. To halt means to make a temporary stop, especially one resulting from a command: to halt a company of soldiers.

    Other Word Forms

    • multistop adjective
    • stopless adjective
    • stoplessness noun
    • stoppable adjective

    Etymology

    Origin of stop

    First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb stoppen, stop(pe), Old English -stoppian; cognate with Dutch, Low German stoppen, German stopfen; all ultimately from Vulgar Latin stuppāre (unrecorded), “to plug with oakum,” derivative of Latin stuppa “coarse hemp or flax,” from Greek stýppē

    Example Sentences

    Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

    The machine only halted when the boy's mother hit the emergency stop button.

    From BBC

    A sweep of Japanese islands called the Ryukyus arcs southwest, stopping just short of Taiwan.

    From The Wall Street Journal

    Maybe, if this had been the only war in 2025, the outside world would have done more to stop it; but it wasn't.

    From BBC

    In a library in the Philippines, a dice rattles on the surface of a board before coming to a stop, putting one of its players straight into the path of a powerful typhoon.

    From Barron's

    Some members of the Chinese community witnessed the destruction but police prevented them from reaching the lookout to stop it, according to videos published by local media.

    From Barron's

    Related Words

    • break
    • cease
    • close
    • drop
    • end
    • halt
    • hold
    • kill
    • pause
    • put an end to
    • quit
    • stall
    • stand
    • stay

    Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

    Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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