Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A length of line, thread, ribbon, or other thin material that is curved or doubled over making an opening.
  • noun The opening formed by such a doubled line.
  • noun Something having a shape, order, or path of motion that is circular or curved over on itself.
  • noun Electricity A closed circuit.
  • noun Computers A sequence of instructions that repeats either a specified number of times or until a particular condition is met.
  • noun A loop-shaped intrauterine device.
  • noun A flight maneuver in which an aircraft flies a circular path in a vertical plane with the lateral axis of the aircraft remaining horizontal.
  • noun A segment of film or magnetic tape whose ends are joined, making a strip that can be continuously replayed.
  • intransitive verb To form into a loop.
  • intransitive verb To fasten, join, or encircle with loops or a loop.
  • intransitive verb To fly (an aircraft) in a loop.
  • intransitive verb To move in a loop or an arc.
  • intransitive verb Electricity To join (conductors) so as to complete a circuit.
  • intransitive verb To add or substitute (words) in a film by altering the soundtrack.
  • intransitive verb To form a loop.
  • intransitive verb To move in a loop.
  • intransitive verb To make a loop in an aircraft.
  • idiom (in the loop) Part of a group that is kept up-to-date with information about something.
  • idiom Slang (knock/throw) To surprise tremendously; astonish.
  • idiom (out of the loop) Not part of a group that is kept up-to-date with information about something.
  • noun A loophole through which small arms may be fired.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To form into a loop or loops: as, to loop a cord.
  • To fasten or secure with a loop or loops: as, to loop up a curtain.
  • To furnish with a loop or loops: as, to loop a cloak.
  • To form a loop.
  • To move, as the larvæ of certain moths, by forming loops.
  • noun In physical, that region, in a standing wave system, for which the amplitude of vibration is a maximum: opposed to node, which is the region of zero amplitude.
  • noun A narrow window; any small, narrow aperture; specifically, in medieval fortification, a small aperture for observing the enemy, for the discharge of arrows or ordnance, or to admit light; a loophole.
  • noun A gap in the paling of a park, made for the convenience of the deer.
  • noun A removable fence-panel made of parallel wooden bars, generally united by transverse braces or crosspieces, used as a substitute for an ordinary fence-gate.
  • noun See loupe.
  • noun A folding or doubling of a string, lace, cord, chain, etc., or a short piece doubled and secured to something at each end.
  • noun Something resembling a loop, as the bend of a river; a link; a crook.
  • noun Specifically—
  • noun In crochet, knitting, and similar kinds of fancy work, same as stitch.
  • noun A hinge of a door.
  • noun In railroad and telegraph systems, a branch line leaving the main line at any point and joining it again at some other point; a looping line, as a branch wire carried over to a side station and back.
  • noun In the theory of Riemann's surfaces, a line running from any point to a branchpoint, then around that branch-point in an infinitesimal circle, and back to the original point by the same path.
  • noun A part of a curve limited by a crunode.
  • noun The ear of a vessel, as a stoneware jar, when approximately of the form of a half-ring projecting from the side or lip.
  • noun In gunnery, a small fron ring in the barrel of a gun.
  • noun The small ring at the tip of a fishing-rod through which the line passes.
  • noun In anatomy, a looped vessel or fiber; especially, a nerve-loop.
  • noun In brachiopods, the folding of the brachial appendages.
  • noun In acoustics, the part of a vibrating musical string (see sonometer), or, as in an organ-pipe, of a column of air, where the amplitude of vibration is at its maximum. See node.
  • noun In mech., a slotted bar or ring at the side of any piece of machinery, designed to limit or control the movement of another part.
  • noun A knot or bur, often of great size, occurring on walnut, maple, oak, and some other trees.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English loupe, probably from Middle Irish lúb (perhaps influenced by Middle English lep, basket).]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English loupe; akin to Middle Dutch lūpen, to lie in wait, peer.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English loupe ("noose, loop"), earlier lowp-knot ("loop-knot"), of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Old Norse hlaup ("a run", literally, "a leap"), used in the sense of a "running knot". Compare Swedish löp-knut ("loop-knot"), Danish løb-knude ("a running knot"), Danish løb ("a course"). More at leap.

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Examples

  • The law concerning the generation of electromotive force and current in a conductor that is cutting through lines of magnetic force, may be stated in another way, when the conductor is bent into the form of a loop, as in the case under consideration: Thus, _if the number of lines of force which pass through a conducting loop be varied, electromotive forces will be generated in the loop_.

    Cyclopedia of Telephony & Telegraphy Vol. 1 A General Reference Work on Telephony, etc. etc. George Patterson 1910

  • Code: opciones () loop = true while $loop do echo "Menu Opciones" echo "= = = = = = = = = = = = = = \n\n" echo "1.

    LinuxQuestions.org kopper27 2010

  • Some of the properties of these atoms of space can best be described mathematically using an extended, one-dimensional loop, hence the term loop quantum gravity.

    How It Brian Clegg 2010

  • Armed with the term loop mail, I found several citations on the net, including a how-to-break-the-loop one here.

    UUpdates - All updates 2010

  • Bowlines are easier to tie when the loop is around something, finger, pole, tree limb or cleat

    how do you tie a bowline and hinch knot? 2009

  • Bowlines are easier to tie when the loop is around something, finger, pole, tree limb or cleat

    how do you tie a bowline and hinch knot? 2009

  • Once around the outside, which is what I call the loop, is a little more than a mile.

    CSS: Shaping the New You Jack Canfield 2010

  • Once around the outside, which is what I call the loop, is a little more than a mile.

    CSS: Shaping the New You Jack Canfield 2010

  • The location of the storm right now is just starting to pull up into this area, on the northeast side of what we call the loop current.

    CNN Transcript Aug 31, 2008 2008

  • And the areas in red indicate what we call the loop current, where we have very warm, very deep water, the water temperature of 80 degrees that can go as far deep as 300 feet.

    CNN Transcript Aug 27, 2006 2006

  • The movie was done, so it meant that LeAnn had to loop—watching the footage and, effectively, lip-synching in reverse.

    "Do We Serve Water in This Bar?" An Oral History of ‘Coyote Ugly’ Kate Lloyd 2020

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  • Nice Flickr panel.

    April 26, 2011