SWOOP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does swoop mean? 

• SWOOP (noun)
  The noun SWOOP has 3 senses:

1. (music) rapid sliding up or down the musical scale

2. a very rapid raid

3. a swift descent through the air

  Familiarity information: SWOOP used as a noun is uncommon.

• SWOOP (verb)
  The verb SWOOP has 3 senses:

1. move down on as if in an attack

2. move with a sweep, or in a swooping arc

3. seize or catch with a swooping motion

  Familiarity information: SWOOP used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SWOOP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(music) rapid sliding up or down the musical scale

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

slide; swoop

Context example:

the violinist was indulgent with his swoops and slides

Hypernyms ("swoop" is a kind of...):

glissando (a rapid series of ascending or descending notes on the musical scale)

Domain category:

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

Derivation:

swoop (move with a sweep, or in a swooping arc)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A very rapid raid

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("swoop" is a kind of...):

foray; maraud; raid (a sudden short attack)

Derivation:

swoop (seize or catch with a swooping motion)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A swift descent through the air

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("swoop" is a kind of...):

descent (the act of changing your location in a downward direction)

Derivation:

swoop (move down on as if in an attack)

• SWOOP (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they swoop    ... he / she / it swoops   
Past simple: swooped   
Past participle: swooped   
-ing form: swooping   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move down on as if in an attack

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

pounce; swoop

Context example:

The teacher swooped down upon the new students

Hypernyms (to "swoop" is one way to...):

come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "swoop"):

stoop (descend swiftly, as if on prey)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

swoop (a swift descent through the air)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move with a sweep, or in a swooping arc

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "swoop" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

swoop ((music) rapid sliding up or down the musical scale)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Seize or catch with a swooping motion

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

swoop; swoop up

Hypernyms (to "swoop" is one way to...):

snap; snatch; snatch up (to grasp hastily or eagerly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

swoop (a very rapid raid)

 Context examples 

Down they swooped, one on the right, one on the left, the sides and shrouds black with men and bristling with weapons.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Well, suddenly out of the darkness, out of the night, there swooped something with a swish like an aeroplane.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To and fro, up and down, north, south, east, and west, the HISPANIOLA sailed by swoops and dashes, and at each repetition ended as she had begun, with idly flapping canvas.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It’s draped with twisted magnetic field lines and swooping electrons and ions.

(FIREBIRD II and NASA Mission Locate Whistling Space Electrons’ Origins, NASA)

You are like a frigate bird swooping down upon the boobies and robbing them of the fish they have caught.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Arthur bent eagerly over to kiss her; but at that instant Van Helsing, who, like me, had been startled by her voice, swooped upon him, and catching him by the neck with both hands, dragged him back with a fury of strength which I never thought he could have possessed, and actually hurled him almost across the room.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But the cub saw, and it was a warning and a lesson to him—the swift downward swoop of the hawk, the short skim of its body just above the ground, the strike of its talons in the body of the ptarmigan, the ptarmigan's squawk of agony and fright, and the hawk's rush upward into the blue, carrying the ptarmigan away with it

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Down swooped the great cog into the narrow channel which was the portal to safety.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a wonderful sight to see at least a hundred creatures of such enormous size and hideous appearance all swooping like swallows with swift, shearing wing-strokes above us; but soon we realized that it was not one on which we could afford to linger.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Twice during the morning there came bands of horsemen swooping down upon them from the black gateways of wayside strongholds, with short, stern questions as to whence they came and what their errand.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)