Etymology: Middle English stoppen, from Old English -stoppian, from Vulgar Latin *stuppare to stop with tow, from Latin stuppa tow, from Greek styppē
Date: 13th century
a. to close by filling or obstructing
b. to hinder or prevent the passage of
c. to get in the way of ; be wounded or killed by <easy to stop a bullet along a lonely…road — Harvey Fergusson> 2. a. to close up or block off (an opening) ; plug b. to make impassable ; choke, obstruct c. to cover over or fill in (a hole or crevice) 3. a. to cause to give up or change a course of action b. to keep from carrying out a proposed action ; restrain, prevent <stopped them from leaving> 4. a. to cause to cease ; check, suppress b. discontinue 5. a. to deduct or withhold (a sum due) b. to instruct one's bank to refuse (payment) or refuse payment of (as a check) 6. a. to arrest the progress or motion of ; cause to halt <stopped the car> b. parry c. to check by means of a weapon ; bring down, kill d. to beat in a boxing match by a knockout; broadly defeat e. baffle, nonplus 7. to change the pitch of (as a violin string) by pressing with the finger or (as a wind instrument) by closing one or more finger holes or by thrusting the hand or a mute into the bell 8. to hold an honor card and enough protecting cards to be able to block (a bridge suit) before an opponent can run many tricks intransitive verb 1. a. to cease activity or operation <his heart stopped> <the rain stopped> b. to come to an end especially suddenly ; close, finish 2. a. to cease to move on ; halt b. pause, hesitate 3. a. to break one's journey ; stay b. chiefly British remain c. to make a brief call ; drop in 4. to become choked ; clog <the sink often stops up> • stoppable adjective Synonyms: stop, cease, quit, discontinue, desist mean to suspend or cause to suspend activity. stop applies to action or progress or to what is operating or progressing and may imply suddenness or definiteness <stopped at the red light>. cease applies to states, conditions, or existence and may add a suggestion of gradualness and a degree of finality <by nightfall the fighting had ceased>. quit may stress either finality or abruptness in stopping or ceasing <the engine faltered, sputtered, then quit altogether>. discontinue applies to the stopping of an accustomed activity or practice <we have discontinued the manufacture of that item>. desist implies forbearance or restraint as a motive for stopping or ceasing <desisted from further efforts to persuade them>. II. noun Date: 15th century 1. a. cessation, end b. a pause or breaking off in speech 2. a. (1) a graduated set of organ pipes of similar design and tone quality (2) a corresponding set of vibrators or reeds of a reed organ (3) stop knob — often used figuratively in phrases like pull out all the stops to suggest holding nothing back b. a means of regulating the pitch of a musical instrument 3. a. something that impedes, obstructs, or brings to a halt ; impediment, obstacle b. the aperture of a camera lens; also a marking of a series (as of f-numbers) on a camera for indicating settings of the diaphragm c. a drain plug ; stopper 4. a device for arresting or limiting motion 5. the act of stopping ; the state of being stopped ; check 6. a. a halt in a journey ; stay <made a brief stop to refuel> b. a stopping place <a bus stop> 7. a. chiefly British any of several punctuation marks b. — used in telegrams and cables to indicate a period c. a pause or break in a verse that marks the end of a grammatical unit 8. a. an order stopping payment (as of a check or note) by a bank b. stop order 9. a consonant characterized by complete closure of the breath passage in the course of articulation — compare continuant 10. a depression in the face of an animal at the junction of forehead and muzzle 11. a function of an electronic device that stops a recording III. adjective Date: 1594 serving to stop ; designed to stop <stop line> <stop signal>
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.