— stopless , adj. — stoplessness , n.
/stop/ , v. , stopped or ( Archaic ) stopt; stopping; n.
v.t.
1. to cease from, leave off, or discontinue: to stop running.
2. to cause to cease; put an end to: to stop noise in the street.
3. to interrupt, arrest, or check (a course, proceeding, process, etc.): Stop your work just a minute.
4. to cut off, intercept, or withhold: to stop supplies.
5. to restrain, hinder, or prevent (usually fol. by from ): I couldn't stop him from going.
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 fol. by up ): 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.
a. to check (a stroke, blow, etc.); parry; ward off.
b. to defeat (an opposing player or team): The Browns stopped the Colts.
c. 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.
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 from it.
c. to produce (a particular note) by so doing.
v.i.
15. to come to a stand, as in a course or journey; halt.
16. to cease moving, proceeding, speaking, acting, operating, etc.; to pause; desist.
17. to cease; come to an end.
18. to halt for a brief visit (often fol. by at, in, or by ): He is stopping at the best hotel in town.
19. stop by , to make a brief visit on one's way elsewhere: I'll stop by on my way home.
20. stop down , Photog. (on a camera) to reduce (the diaphragm opening of a lens).
21. stop in , to make a brief, incidental visit: If you're in town, be sure to stop in.
22. 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.
23. stop out ,
a. to mask (certain areas of an etching plate, photographic negative, etc.) with varnish, paper, or the like, to prevent their being etched, printed, etc.
b. to withdraw temporarily from school: Most of the students who stop out eventually return to get their degrees.
24. stop over , to stop briefly in the course of a journey: Many motorists were forced to stop over in that town because of floods.
n.
25. the act of stopping.
26. a cessation or arrest of movement, action, operation, etc.; end: The noise came to a stop. Put a stop to that behavior!
27. a stay or sojourn made at a place, as in the course of a journey: Above all, he enjoyed his stop in Trieste.
28. a place where trains or other vehicles halt to take on and discharge passengers: Is this a bus stop?
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. any piece or device that serves to check or control movement or action in a mechanism.
34. Archit. a feature terminating a molding or chamfer.
35. Com.
a. an order to refuse payment of a check.
b. See stop order .
36. Music.
a. the act of closing a fingerhole or pressing a string of an instrument in order to produce a particular note.
b. a device or contrivance, as on an instrument, for accomplishing this.
c. (in an organ) a graduated set of pipes of the same kind and giving tones of the same quality.
d. 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.
e. (in a reed organ) a group of reeds functioning like a pipe-organ stop.
37. 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.
38. Naut. a piece of small line used to lash or fasten something, as a furled sail.
39. Phonet.
a. an articulation that interrupts the flow of air from the lungs.
b. a consonant sound characterized by stop articulation, as /p, b, t, d, k/ and /g/ . Cf. continuant .
40. Photog. the diaphragm opening of a lens, esp. as indicated by an f- number.
41. Building Trades.
a. See stop bead .
b. doorstop (def. 2).
42. any of various marks used as punctuation at the end of a sentence, esp. a period.
43. the word "stop" printed in the body of a telegram or cablegram to indicate a period.
44. stops , ( used with a sing. v. ) a family of card games whose object is to play all of one's cards in a predetermined sequence before one's opponents.
45. Zool. a depression in the face of certain animals, esp. dogs, marking the division between the forehead and the projecting part of the muzzle. See diag. under dog .
46. pull out all the stops ,
a. to use every means available.
b. to express, do, or carry out something without reservation.
[ bef. 1000; ME stoppen (v.), OE -stoppian (in forstoppian to stop up); c. D, LG stoppen, G stopfen; all stuppare to plug with oakum, deriv. of L stuppa coarse hemp or flax stýppe ]
Syn. 3. 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, esp. one resulting from a command: to halt a company of soldiers. 5. thwart, obstruct, impede. 16. quit. 26. halt; termination. 28. terminal. 33. governor.
Ant. 1-3. start.