SWOOPING
Verb
swooping
present participle of swoop
Noun
swooping (plural swoopings)
The motion of something that swoops.
Adjective
swooping
That swoops or swoop.
Source: Wiktionary
SWOOP
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