stop

[[t]stɒp[/t]]

v. stopped, stop•ping, n.

1) to cease from or discontinue:

to stop running[/ex]

2) to cause to cease:

to stop crime[/ex]

3) to interrupt or check

4) to cut off, intercept, or withhold:

to stop supplies[/ex]

5) to restrain or prevent:

I couldn't stop him from going[/ex]

6) to prevent from proceeding, acting, or operating:

to stop a car[/ex]

7) to block or close off (often fol. by up):

to stop up a sink[/ex]

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

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

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

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

12)

a) to defeat (an opposing player or team)

b) to defeat in a boxing match by a knockout or technical knockout

13) bus to notify a bank to refuse payment of (a check) upon presentation

14) gam (in bridge) to have an honor card and a sufficient number of protecting cards to keep an opponent from continuing to win in (a suit)

15) mad

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

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

c) to produce (a particular note) by so doing

16) to come to a stand, as in a course or journey; halt

17) to cease moving, proceeding, operating, etc.; pause or desist

18) to cease; come to an end

19) to halt for a stay or visit:

They're stopping at a nice hotel[/ex]

20) phv stop by or in, to make a brief visit

21) pht phv stop down, (on a camera) to reduce (the diaphragm opening of a lens)

22) phv stop off, to halt for a brief stay at some point on the way elsewhere

23) phv stop out

a) to withdraw temporarily from school

b) to mask (areas of an etching plate, photographic negative, etc.) to prevent their being etched, printed, etc

24) phv stop over

a) to stop briefly, as overnight, in the course of a journey

b) to make a brief visit

25) the act of stopping

26) a cessation or arrest of movement, activity, or operation; end:

Put a stop to that![/ex]

27) a stay made at a place, as in the course of a journey

28) trs a place where trains or other vehicles halt to take on and discharge passengers:

a bus stop[/ex]

29) a closing or filling up, as of a hole

30) a blocking or obstructing, as of a passage or channel

31) a plug or other stopper for an opening

32) an obstacle, impediment, or hindrance

33) a piece or device that serves to check or control movement or action in a mechanism

34) bus

a) an order to refuse payment of a check

b) stop order

35) mad

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

b) a device, as on an instrument, for accomplishing this

c) a graduated set of organ pipes of the same kind giving tones of the same quality

d) a knob or handle that controls the sounding of such a set of pipes

e) a set of jacks on a harpsichord or reeds in a reed organ functioning like a pipe-organ stop

36) naut. navig. a piece of small line used to lash or fasten something, as a furled sail

37) phn a consonant sound made with complete closure at some part of the vocal tract, usu. followed by sudden release of the interrupted air, as in the sounds (p, b, t, d, k, g)

Compare continuant 1)

38) pht the diaphragm opening of a camera lens, esp. as indicated by an f-number

39) any of various marks used as punctuation at the end of a sentence, esp. a period

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

41) zool. a depression in the face of certain animals, esp. dogs, marking the division between the forehead and the projecting part of the muzzle

•

- pull out all the stops

Etymology: bef. 1000; ME stoppen (v.), OE -stoppian (in forstoppian to stop up) « VL *stuppāre to plug with oakum, der. of L stuppa coarse hemp < Gk stýppē stop′pa•ble, adj. syn: 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 usu. 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, esp. one resulting from a command: to halt a company of soldiers.