stop

to interrupt, arrest, or check (a course, proceeding, process, etc.): Stop your work just a minute.

to cut off, intercept, or withhold: to stop supplies.

to restrain, hinder, or prevent (usually followed by from): I couldn't stop him from going.

to prevent from proceeding, acting, operating, continuing, etc.: to stop a speaker; to stop a car.

to block, obstruct, or close (a passageway, channel, opening, duct, etc.) (usually followed by up): He stopped up the sink with a paper towel. He stopped the hole in the tire with a patch.

to fill the hole or holes in (a wall, a decayed tooth, etc.).

to close (a container, tube, etc.) with a cork, plug, bung, or the like.

to close the external orifice of (the ears, nose, mouth, etc.).

Sports.

Banking. to notify a bank to refuse payment of (a check) upon presentation.

Bridge. to have an honor card and a sufficient number of protecting cards to keep an opponent from continuing to win in (a suit).

Music.

to cease; come to an end.

to halt for a brief visit (often followed by at, in, or by): He is stopping at the best hotel in town.

stop by, to make a brief visit on one's way elsewhere: I'll stop by on my way home.

a stay or sojourn made at a place, as in the course of a journey: Above all, he enjoyed his stop in Trieste.

a place where trains or other vehicles halt to take on and discharge passengers: Is this a bus stop?

a closing or filling up, as of a hole.

a blocking or obstructing, as of a passage or channel.

a plug or other stopper for an opening.

an obstacle, impediment, or hindrance.

any piece or device that serves to check or control movement or action in a mechanism.

Architecture. a feature terminating a molding or chamfer.

Commerce.

Music.

Sports. an individual defensive play or act that prevents an opponent or opposing team from scoring, advancing, or gaining an advantage, as a catch in baseball, a tackle in football, or the deflection of a shot in hockey.

Nautical. a piece of small line used to lash or fasten something, as a furled sail.

Phonetics.

Photography. the diaphragm opening of a lens, especially as indicated by an f- number.

Building Trades.

any of various marks used as punctuation at the end of a sentence, especially a period.

the word “stop” printed in the body of a telegram or cablegram to indicate a period.

stops, (used with a singular verb) a family of card games whose object is to play all of one's cards in a predetermined sequence before one's opponents.

Zoology. a depression in the face of certain animals, especially dogs, marking the division between the forehead and the projecting part of the muzzle.

(tr) to prevent the continuance or completion of: to stop a show

(tr often foll by from) to prevent or restrain: to stop George from fighting

(tr) to keep back: to stop supplies to the navy

(tr) to intercept or hinder in transit: to stop a letter

(tr often foll by up) to block or plug, esp so as to close: to stop up a pipe

(tr often foll by up) to fill a hole or opening in: to stop up a wall

(tr) to staunch or stem: to stop a wound

(tr) to instruct a bank not to honour (a cheque)

(tr) to deduct (money) from pay

(tr) British to provide with punctuation

(tr) boxing to beat (an opponent) either by a knockout or a technical knockout

(tr) informal to receive (a blow, hit, etc)

(intr) to stay or rest: we stopped at the Robinsons' for three nights

(tr) rare to defeat, beat, or kill

(tr) music

(tr) to place a hand inside (the bell of a French horn) to alter the tone colour and pitch or play (a note) on a French horn in such a manner

bridge to have a protecting card or winner in (a suit in which one's opponents are strong)

stop at nothing to be prepared to do anything; be unscrupulous or ruthless

a place where something halts or pauses: a bus stop

a stay in or as if in the course of a journey

the act or an instance of blocking or obstructing

a plug or stopper

a block, screw, or other device or object that prevents, limits, or terminates the motion of a mechanism or moving part

British a punctuation mark, esp a full stop

Also called: stop thrust fencing a counterthrust made without a parry in the hope that one's blade will touch before one's opponent's blade

short for stop payment, stop order

music

pull out all the stops

Australian a stud on a football boot

the angle between the forehead and muzzle of a dog or cat, regarded as a point in breeding

nautical a short length of line or small stuff used as a tie, esp for a furled sail

Also called: stop consonant phonetics any of a class of consonants articulated by first making a complete closure at some point of the vocal tract and then releasing it abruptly with audible plosion. Stops include the labials (p, b), the alveolars or dentals (t, d), the velars (k, g): Compare continuant

Also called: f-stop photog

a block or carving used to complete the end of a moulding

Also called: stopper bridge a protecting card or winner in a suit in which one's opponents are strong