Definition Definition

stop - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'stop' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Stop [ n.]
- The act of stopping, or the state of being stopped; hindrance of progress or of action; cessation; repression; interruption; check; obstruction.
- That which stops, impedes, or obstructs; as obstacle; an impediment; an obstruction.
- A device, or piece, as a pin, block, pawl, etc., for arresting or limiting motion, or for determining the position to which another part shall be brought.
- The closing of an aperture in the air passage, or pressure of the finger upon the string, of an instrument of music, so as to modify the tone; hence, any contrivance by which the sounds of a musical instrument are regulated.
- In the organ, one of the knobs or handles at each side of the organist, by which he can draw on or shut off any register or row of pipes; the register itself; as, the vox humana stop.
- A member, plain or molded, formed of a separate piece and fixed to a jamb, against which a door or window shuts. This takes the place, or answers the purpose, of a rebate. Also, a pin or block to prevent a drawer from sliding too far.
- A point or mark in writing or printing intended to distinguish the sentences, parts of a sentence, or clauses; a mark of punctuation. See Punctuation.
- The diaphragm used in optical instruments to cut off the marginal portions of a beam of light passing through lenses.
- The depression in the face of a dog between the skull and the nasal bones. It is conspicuous in the bulldog, pug, and some other breeds.
- Some part of the articulating organs, as the lips, or the tongue and palate, closed (a) so as to cut off the passage of breath or voice through the mouth and the nose (distinguished as a lip-stop, or a front-stop, etc., as in p, t, d, etc.), or (b) so as to obstruct, but not entirely cut off, the passage, as in l, n, etc.; also, any of the consonants so formed.
2 . Stop [ v. i.]
- To cease to go on; to halt, or stand still; to come to a stop.
- To cease from any motion, or course of action.
- To spend a short time; to reside temporarily; to stay; to tarry; as, to stop with a friend.
3 . Stop [ v. t.]
- To close, as an aperture, by filling or by obstructing; as, to stop the ears; hence, to stanch, as a wound.
- To obstruct; to render impassable; as, to stop a way, road, or passage.
- To arrest the progress of; to hinder; to impede; to shut in; as, to stop a traveler; to stop the course of a stream, or a flow of blood.
- To hinder from acting or moving; to prevent the effect or efficiency of; to cause to cease; to repress; to restrain; to suppress; to interrupt; to suspend; as, to stop the execution of a decree, the progress of vice, the approaches of old age or infirmity.
- To regulate the sounds of, as musical strings, by pressing them against the finger board with the finger, or by shortening in any way the vibrating part.
- To point, as a composition; to punctuate.
- To make fast; to stopper.

Meaning of 'stop' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . stop [ n]
Meaning (1):
- the state of inactivity following an interruption
Example in sentence:
  • during the halt he got some lunch;
  • he spent the entire stop in his seat;
  • held them in check;
  • the momentary stay enabled him to escape the blow;
  • the negotiations were in arrest
Meaning (2):
- a restraint that checks the motion of something
Example in sentence:
  • he used a book as a stop to hold the door open
Meaning (3):
- a spot where something halts or pauses
Example in sentence:
  • his next stop is Atlanta
Meaning (4):
- a consonant produced by stopping the flow of air at some point and suddenly releasing it
Example in sentence:
  • his stop consonants are too aspirated
Meaning (5):
- the act of stopping something
Example in sentence:
  • his stoppage of the flow resulted in a flood;
  • the third baseman made some remarkable stops
Meaning (6):
- a punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations
Example in sentence:
  • in England they call a period a stop
Meaning (7):
- the event of something ending
Example in sentence:
  • it came to a stop at the bottom of the hill
Meaning (8):
- a mechanical device in a camera that controls size of aperture of the lens
Example in sentence:
  • the new cameras adjust the diaphragm automatically
Meaning (9):
- (music) a knob on an organ that is pulled to change the sound quality from the organ pipes
Example in sentence:
  • the organist pulled out all the stops
Meaning (10):
- a brief stay in the course of a journey
Example in sentence:
  • they made a stopover to visit their friends
Meaning (11):
- an obstruction in a pipe or tube
Example in sentence:
  • we had to call a plumber to clear out the blockage in the drainpipe
12 . stop [ v]
Meaning (12):
- hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of
Example in sentence:
  • Arrest the downward trend;
  • Check the growth of communism in South East Asia;
  • Contain the rebel movement;
  • Turn back the tide of communism
Meaning (13):
- cause to stop
Example in sentence:
  • Arrest the progress;
  • Halt the engines;
  • halt the presses;
  • stop a car;
  • stop the thief
Meaning (14):
- render unsuitable for passage
Example in sentence:
  • barricade the streets;
  • block the way;
  • stop the busy road
Meaning (15):
- stop from happening or developing
Example in sentence:
  • Block his election;
  • Halt the process
Meaning (16):
- prevent completion
Example in sentence:
  • break off the negotiations;
  • stop the project
Meaning (17):
- stop and wait, as if awaiting further instructions or developments
Example in sentence:
  • Hold on a moment!
Meaning (18):
- have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical
Example in sentence:
  • My property ends by the bushes;
  • the bronchioles terminate in a capillary bed;
  • The symphony ends in a pianissimo;
  • Your rights stop where you infringe upon the rights of other
Meaning (19):
- put an end to a state or an activity
Example in sentence:
  • Quit teasing your little brother
Meaning (20):
- come to a halt, stop moving
Example in sentence:
  • She stopped in front of a store window;
  • the car stopped
Meaning (21):
- seize on its way
Example in sentence:
  • The fighter plane was ordered to intercept an aircraft that had entered the country's airspace
Meaning (22):
- interrupt a trip
Example in sentence:
  • they stopped for three days in Florence;
  • we stopped at Aunt Mary's house