- (v.t.) To close, as an aperture, by filling or by obstructing; as, to stop the ears; hence, to stanch, as a wound.
- (n.) A device or piece, as a pin, block, pawl, etc., for arresting or limiting motion or for determining the position to which another part shall be brought.
- (v.i.) To cease from any motion or course of action.
- (n.) The act of stopping or the state of being stopped; hindrance of progress or of action; cessation; repression; interruption; check; obstruction.
- (v.t.) To obstruct; to render impassable; as, to stop a way, road or passage.
- (n.) Some part of the articulating organs, as the lips or the tongue and palate, closed (a) so as to cut off the passage of breath or voice through the mouth and the nose (distinguished as a lip-stop or a front-stop, etc., as in p, t, d, etc.) or (b) so as to obstruct, but not entirely cut off, the passage, as in l, n, etc.; also, any of the consonants so formed.
- (v.i.) To cease to go on; to halt or stand still; to come to a stop.
- (n.) That which stops, impedes or obstructs; as obstacle; an impediment; an obstruction.
- (v.t.) To point, as a composition; to punctuate.
- (v.i.) To spend a short time; to reside temporarily; to stay; to tarry; as, to stop with a friend.
- (n.) A point or mark in writing or printing intended to distinguish the sentences, parts of a sentence or clauses; a mark of punctuation. See Punctuation.
- (v.t.) To arrest the progress of; to hinder; to impede; to shut in; as, to stop a traveler; to stop the course of a stream or a flow of blood.
- (v.t.) To hinder from acting or moving; to prevent the effect or efficiency of; to cause to cease; to repress; to restrain; to suppress; to interrupt; to suspend; as, to stop the execution of a decree, the progress of vice, the approaches of old age or infirmity.
- (n.) In the organ, one of the knobs or handles at each side of the organist, by which he can draw on or shut off any register or row of pipes; the register itself; as, the vox humana stop.
- (n.) The diaphragm used in optical instruments to cut off the marginal portions of a beam of light passing through lenses.
- (v.t.) To make fast; to stopper.
- (n.) The closing of an aperture in the air passage or pressure of the finger upon the string, of an instrument of music, so as to modify the tone; hence, any contrivance by which the sounds of a musical instrument are regulated.
- (n.) A member, plain or molded, formed of a separate piece and fixed to a jamb, against which a door or window shuts. This takes the place or answers the purpose, of a rebate. Also, a pin or block to prevent a drawer from sliding too far.
- (n.) The depression in the face of a dog between the skull and the nasal bones. It is conspicuous in the bulldog, pug, and some other breeds.
- (v.t.) To regulate the sounds of, as musical strings, by pressing them against the finger board with the finger or by shortening in any way the vibrating part.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). stop. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/stop/definitions/2066786 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "stop" http://smartdefine.org/stop/definitions/2066786 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, stop, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/stop/definitions/2066786>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "stop" 28 May 2011. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/stop/definitions/2066786> |