SWOOP • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Swoop

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noun

Swoop n. A falling on and seizing, as the prey of a rapacious bird; the act of swooping. "The eagle fell,... and carried away a whole litter of cubs at a swoop."

verb

Swoop v. t. (past & past part. swooped; pres. part. swooping)

To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing; as, a hawk swoops a chicken.

To seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep. "And now at last you came to swoop it all." "The grazing ox which swoops it (the medicinal herb) in with the common grass."

Swoop v. i.

To descend with closed wings from a height upon prey, as a hawk; to stoop.

To pass with pomp; to sweep. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Swoop'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Swoop" Quotes from Famous Books

... A dizzying swoop downward, but not to death and destruction, for the aerostat alighted easily upon what appeared to be a sort of air-cushion, and, though unsteady for a brief space, then settled upon ...

— The Lost City • Joseph E. Badger, Jr.

... low gentling words of the riders. Why the colonel did not spring his trap at once I could not guess; though I learned later that he had magnified our two-man spying venture into a patriot foray meant to capture the whole houseful of British officers at a swoop, and was ...

— The Master of Appleby • Francis Lynde

... swoop to the right, nosed down into a shallow ditch and leaped like a shot deer out on ...

— Highways in Hiding • George Oliver Smith

... an answering hail to him up the wind. We were a bare twenty yards apart, but if he had not chanced at that moment to look in my direction, I doubt if he would have been aware of me, for all my efforts. The wind, in a fresh swoop, snatched the sound from my lips and ranged through the house with a turmoil of banging doors, falling crockery, and wildly fluttering draperies. As it was, he caught sight of me, shouted something unintelligible, and gesticulated ...

— McClure's Magazine, Vol 31, No 2, June 1908 • Various

... I had a curious sense of being whirled at a terrific speed into some subterranean suck of waters. There was nothing to do but wait. We struck rocks and went rolling, shipping buckets of water at every dip. Then there was a long sickening swoop through utter blackness. It ended abruptly with a ...

— The River and I • John G. Neihardt

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