swoop

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This week's suspects had been under covert surveillance for a month and preparations for the swoop were already advanced before Mr Quick allowed crucial documents to be photographed as he went to brief the Prime Minister.

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Definitions (18)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. intransitive verb To move in a sudden sweep: The bird swooped down on its prey.
  2. intransitive verb To make a rush or an attack with or as if with a sudden sweeping movement. Often used with down: The children swooped down on the pile of presents.
  3. transitive verb To seize or snatch in or as if in a sudden sweeping movement.
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Examples (50)

  • This week's suspects had been under covert surveillance for a month and preparations for the swoop were already advanced before Mr Quick allowed crucial documents to be photographed as he went to brief the Prime Minister. —  Top Stories - Google News
  • In one fell swoop, the BC Liberals lose any edge they may have had on ethics. —  Progressive Bloggers
  • Sanford once vetoed 106 pork-barrel projects in a single swoop, then carried a pair of squealing piglets into the statehouse to make his point. —  Hot Air » Top Picks
  • But they saw no reason to suppose that the swoop was about to be made on them. —  Speeches from the Dock, Part I
  • In the down-swoop, they were all but crashed on a towering pile of ice, but escaping this fate, once more they were away Despite this near-catastrophe, Barney was determined to make a landing. —  Lost in the Air
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This word has been looked up 107 times.

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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

plunge ·  lurch ·  swipe ·  talon ·  jab ·  leap ·  swirl ·  dip ·  sweep ·  screech ·  heave ·  flutter

Used in the same contextWord Family

swoop:   swoops ·  swooped ·  swooping
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English swopen, to sweep along, from Old English swāpan, to sweep, swing.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. An altered form of swope (pron. swōp), from Middle English swopen, sweep, cleanse, from Anglo-Saxon swāpan (preterit sweóp, past participle swāpen), sweep along, rush, swoop; cf. Icelandic sōpa, sweep. See sweep, and also swape, swipe.
  2. from swoop, v.
 

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/swup/
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