SWOOP

swoop

(noun) a swift descent through the air

swoop

(noun) a very rapid raid

swoop, slide

(noun) (music) rapid sliding up or down the musical scale; “the violinist was indulgent with his swoops and slides”

swoop, swoop up

(verb) seize or catch with a swooping motion

pounce, swoop

(verb) move down on as if in an attack; “The raptor swooped down on its prey”; “The teacher swooped down upon the new students”

swoop

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

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

swoop (third-person singular simple present swoops, present participle swooping, simple past and past participle swooped)

(intransitive) To fly or glide downwards suddenly; to plunge (in the air) or nosedive.

(intransitive) To move swiftly, as if with a sweeping movement, especially to attack something.

(transitive) To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing.

(transitive) To seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep.

To pass with pomp; to sweep.

Noun

swoop (plural swoops)

An instance, or the act of suddenly plunging downward.

A sudden act of seizing.

(music) A quick passage from one note to the next.

Source: Wiktionary

Swoop, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Swooped; p. pr. & vb. n. Swooping.] Etym: [OE. swopen, usually, to sweep, As. swapan to sweep, to rush; akin to G. schweifen to rove, to ramble, to curve, OHG. sweifan to whirl, Icel. sveipa to sweep; also to AS. swifan to move quickly. Cf. Sweep, Swift, a. & n., Swipe, Swivel.]

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

2. To seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep. And now at last you came to swoop it all. Dryden. The grazing ox which swoops it [the medicinal herb] in with the common grass. Glanvill.

Swoop, v. i.

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

2. To pass with pomp; to sweep. [Obs.] Drayton.

Swoop, n.

Definition: 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. L'Estrange.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition