Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Stoop

Stoop , noun

[Dutch stoep.]

(Architecture) Originally, a covered porch with seats, at a house door; the Dutch stoep as introduced by the Dutch into New York. Afterward, an out-of-door flight of stairs of from seven to fourteen steps, with platform and parapets, leading to an entrance door some distance above the street; the French perron. Hence, any porch, platform, entrance stairway, or small veranda, at a house door. [United States]

Stoop , noun

[Old English stope, Icelandic staup; akin to Anglo-Saxon steáp, Dutch stoop, German stauf, Old High German stouph.]

A vessel of liquor; a flagon.
Fetch me a stoop of liquor. — Shakespeare

Stoop , noun

[Compare Icelandic staup a knobby lump.]

A post fixed in the earth. [Provincial English]

Stoop , intransitive verb

[Old English stoupen; akin to Anglo-Saxon st{not transcribed}pian, OD. stuypen, Icelandic stūpa, Swedish stupa to fall, to tilt. Cf 5th Steep.]

1.
To bend the upper part of the body downward and forward; to bend or lean forward; to incline forward in standing or walking; to assume habitually a bent position.
2.
To yield; to submit; to bend, as by compulsion; to assume a position of humility or subjection.
Mighty in her ships stood Carthage long,... Yet stooped to Rome, less wealthy, but more strong. — Dryden
These are arts, my prince, In which your Zama does not stoop to Rome. — Addison
3.
To descend from rank or dignity; to condescend.
She stoops to conquer. — Goldsmith
Where men of great wealth stoop to husbandry, it multiplieth riches exceedingly. — Bacon
4.
To come down as a hawk does on its prey; to pounce; to souse; to swoop.
The bird of Jove, stooped from his aery tour, Two birds of gayest plume before him drove. — Milton
5.
To sink when on the wing; to alight.
And stoop with closing pinions from above. — Dryden
Cowering low With blandishment, each bird stooped on his wing. — Milton

Stoop , transitive verb

1.
To bend forward and downward; to bow down; as, to stoop the body.
Have stooped my neck. — Shakespeare
2.
To cause to incline downward; to slant; as, to stoop a cask of liquor.
3.
To cause to submit; to prostrate. [Obsolete]
Many of those whose states so tempt thine ears Are stooped by death; and many left alive. — Chapman
4.
To degrade. [Obsolete] — Shakespeare

Stoop , noun

1.
The act of stooping, or bending the body forward; inclination forward; also, an habitual bend of the back and shoulders.
2.
Descent, as from dignity or superiority; condescension; an act or position of humiliation.
Can any loyal subject see With patience such a stoop from sovereignty? — Dryden
3.
The fall of a bird on its prey; a swoop. — L'Estrange