stop

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A place where a bus or train regularly halts to let passengers on and off.

   The next stop is Atlanta.

2. 2
   noun

   The act of stopping, or a pause in movement or activity.

   The car came to a sudden stop at the bottom of the hill.

3. 3
   noun

   A short stay during a journey.

   They made a stop to visit their friends on the way.

4. 4
   noun

   A punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a sentence; a full stop.

   In England they call a period a full stop.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Although stop is an Old English word also found in other Germanic languages, it ultimately comes from a presumed Late Latin verb stuppare, meaning “to stop or stuff with tow or oakum,” from Latin stuppa, “tow.” Its basic sense in the Germanic languages was “plug, fill, or close.” The meaning “come to a halt” developed only in English, whose form and sense were subsequently adopted or readopted by many Continental languages.

From Middle English stoppen, stoppien, from Old English stoppian (“to stop, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn, from Proto-Germanic *stuppōną (“to stop, close”), *stuppijaną (“to push, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp-, *(s)tewb- (“to push; stick”), from *(s)tew- (“to bump; impact; butt; push; beat; strike; hit”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian stopje (“to stop, block”), West Frisian stopje (“to stop”), Dutch stoppen (“to stop”), Low German stoppen (“to stop”), German stopfen (“to be filling, stuff”), German stoppen (“to stop”), Danish stoppe (“to stop”), Swedish stop…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary