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• coop
  coop

  noun

  an enclosure, cage, or pen, usually with bars or wires, in which fowls or other small animals are confined for fattening, transportation, etc.
• coop.
  coop.

  abbreviation

  cooperative.

coop

¹ American  

[koop, koop] / kup, kʊp /

noun

• coops
  plural

1. an enclosure, cage, or pen, usually with bars or wires, in which fowls or other small animals are confined for fattening, transportation, etc.

2. any small or narrow place.

3. Slang. a prison.

4. Sometimes Facetious. a cooperative, especially the cooperative bookstore of a college or university.

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verb (used with object)

• coops,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cooped,
  past participle,  past
• cooping
  present participle

1. to place in or as if in a coop; confine narrowly (often followed by up orin ).

verb (used without object)

• coops,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cooped,
  past participle,  past
• cooping
  present participle

1. Slang. (of a police officer) to park and sleep inside one's patrol car while on duty.

idioms

1. fly the coop, to run off; depart abruptly; escape.

   We stopped to see my sister, but she'd flown the coop.

coop. ² American  

Or co-op

abbreviation

1. cooperative.

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coop ¹ British  

/ kuːp /

noun

1. a cage or small enclosure for poultry or small animals

2. a small narrow place of confinement, esp a prison cell

3. a wicker basket for catching fish

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verb

1. (tr; often foll by up or in) to confine in a restricted area

coop ² British  

/ ˈkəʊˌɒp /

noun

1. a cooperative, cooperative society, or shop run by a cooperative society

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coop ³ British  

abbreviation

1. a cooperative

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coop. ⁴ British  

abbreviation

1. cooperative

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coop More Idioms  

1. see fly the coop.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• uncoop
  verb (used with object)

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• coops
  plural

Participles

• cooping
  present
• cooped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• coop
  simple
• coops
  simple
• have cooped
  perfect
• has cooped
  perfect
• am cooping
  progressive
• are cooping
  progressive
• is cooping
  progressive
• have been cooping
  perfect progressive
• has been cooping
  perfect progressive

Past

• cooped
  simple
• had cooped
  perfect
• was cooping
  progressive
• were cooping
  progressive
• had been cooping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will coop
  simple
• will have cooped
  perfect
• will be cooping
  progressive
• will have been cooping
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of coop

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English coupe “basket,” perhaps from Scandinavian or ultimately from Latin cūpa “cask, tub” ( see cup ( def. )); cognate with Norwegian kaup “wooden can,” Old English cȳpa “basket”

Explanation

A coop is a small enclosed area or structure where chickens are kept. If you feel cooped up, you feel like you’re stuck in a small space, like a giant chicken in a tiny cage. A coop is where chickens get shelter from bad weather and predators. Without a hyphen, the word co-op, which is short for co-operative organization, turns into coop. That can be confusing to chickens because they don’t know if they will have meetings or a safe place to lay eggs. Coop comes from the Old English word cype, "basket" or "cask," with the Latin root cupa, "cask" or "tub."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

coop coop. coops cooped cooping

The bird initially was enjoying time with the chickens, but by the next day he decided he had enough of his friends in the coop.

From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026

Don Knotts, “Mr. Chicken” himself, was ready to fly the coop out of L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026

When your kids have flown the coop, this is where you will probably spend your retirement years, so picture yourselves living there if/when you have reduced mobility.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 21, 2026

In short, the wolves are watching the chicken coop.

From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2026

“Actually, I’m here because last night I remembered a blue willow grove near the northwest ridge,” Connor said as I emerged from the coop.

From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate

“As I was leaving, I passed this old guy in his yard. Sparks from the fire burned his chicken coop. I asked if I could help. He said yes.”

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

"Two canaries,” Dad shouted, "known as Peter and Maggie and by other aliases, have flown the coop. No matter. We wouldn’t think of delaying you further.”

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

“Wonderful. Find the book and bring it to the chicken coop. Simawoo will know what to do with it. Wait for me there. And remember, when it comes to the birds...”

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

“This lady,” I say, “she walked by and said a lot of people around here have chickens. That they might need a coop. Do you think that’s true?”

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

“You shall have to bring the chickens—I mean, baby dodos—back to the chicken coop. Understood?”

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

Residents report bears rummaging through trash, raiding chicken coops and—like any good Southern Californian—dipping into backyard pools.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025

"This can lead to uneasiness within locals. We've been strengthening the coops so lynxes can't access them, and in some cases we keep monitoring the lynxes and scare them off if needed."

From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2025

"Fish may simply not encounter much ammonium in the water, while chicken coops are filled with ammonium that needs to be avoided and not eaten."

From Science Daily ● Oct. 5, 2023

On a Foster Farms ranch that had housed more than a million chickens, mildew cut dark lines across the exterior of buildings where some chickens had drowned in their coops.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2023

Liz declared herself my “public relations” manager for my chicken coops, and then started blathering on about the “urban chicken market” and the need for the coops to have a cool paint job.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

A lot of workers end up cooped up in their office all day, never taking, or being able to take, time to step outdoors for fresh air.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 25, 2025

Airlines were helped in 2023 by strong demand for travel from people who had spent most of the pandemic cooped up at home.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 12, 2024

We can’t help but root for him when he’s cooped up in the bathroom, crying all by himself.

From Salon ● Dec. 31, 2023

A TikTok video of the band playing a cover of the Lion King's Just Can't Wait To Be King went viral as everyone was cooped up inside in 2020, and it snowballed.

From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2023

I was no stranger to hard work, but the thought of being cooped up in Miss Sadie’s Divining Parlor left me feeling a bit short of breath.

From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool

We also don’t mean cooping up post-exposure to a pathogen to contain the threat.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 24, 2021

There is still one authorized cooping location: the precinct station house itself.

From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2014

In New York City, large numbers of policemen seem to have the sleeping-on-duty habit, which they call "cooping."

From Time Magazine Archive

I’d rather be outside with the men, rounding up the goats and cooping the chickens for the night, feeling hot inside my coat from the effort as my breath fogs out in the cold.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

All those years of aloofness, of cooping herself up and not caring where Laila went and whom she saw and what she thought...

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini