to stoop
1
8.9
- verb
- /stuːp/
:
lanzarse en picado
- As I walked to pick it up, the hawk stooped past me, grabbed the quail on the fly, and continued down the hill.
- falcon stoops
Examples
-
The great birds soared in the air, stooping at the sea and often flying off with a fish in one claw back to the cliff to eat.
Fiction book (1991) -
In the kitchen, he stooped to root in the refrigerator for the dinner that Ellen's note had said would be there and emerged with a casserole dish of stuffed pasta shells.
Fiction book (1990) -
Stooped at the blighter as though it was a rabbit.
-
Ravire stooped on sailing wings and seized the golden fish in both his hands.
Fiction book (1993) -
She stooped and struck with her talons, missing because he let his knees collapse, and she sailed past where he had been.
Fiction book (1997) -
Soon after that, it stooped on a quail that flushed wild, but the quail had a good head of steam and was headed downhill, so the hawk lost that race.
Blog text (17) -
More abruptly than the action began, the two lead hawks stooped, and the trailing hawks eased up and perched in patches of mesquite near the location of the last stoop.
Academic text (1990) -
The hawk stoops swiftly to catch a rabbit in the field.
-
As the small bird saw its prey, it stooped sharply from the treetop.
-
In a sudden dive, the eagle stooped towards the ground to snatch a fish.
Synonyms
83
3.8
To fall or drop suddenly from a higher to a lower place
54
4.1
To jump suddenly onto something to grab or attack it
To move down quickly and suddenly like a hunting bird
Idioms
- Informal
A sign asking dog owners not to let their dogs poop on the front steps
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
How Fast
Surface Forms
Etymology
Stoop for a bird's fast dive comes from the idea of 'falling or rushing down', so when a hawk stoops it drops quickly from the sky to catch its prey.