stop up

Idioms  

1. Fill a hole or gap, block an opening or passage. For example, We need to stop up the chinks in the walls, or The sink is stopped up; it won't drain. This idiom was at first put simply as stop, the adverb up being added only in the early 1700s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stop up

Greed also causes overleveraging: You keep adding to a winning position without moving your stop up to protect profits, then suddenly bad news hits, and what was your biggest winner yesterday wipes you out today.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 28, 2026

"I now put the food away when I go to bed, but in the morning I've found the towel I've used to stop up the gap is pulled out and chewed too."

From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2023

And so we let crickets be crickets and I stop up my ears.

From Slate ● Feb. 26, 2022

He made a diving stop up the middle on a ball hit by Iglesias and threw to first in time.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 7, 2021

I found myself driving down the highway, one hand on the wheel, the other pointing to the rest stop up ahead.

From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken

Related Words

• arrest
• bar
• blockade
• clog
• close
• close off
• cut off
• deter
• halt
• hinder
• hold up
• impede
• intercept
• prevent
• stall
• stop
• thwart