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stope

[stohp]
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noun
  1. any excavation made in a mine, especially from a steeply inclined vein, to remove the ore that has been rendered accessible by the shafts and drifts.
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verb (used with or without object), stoped, stop·ing.
  1. to mine or work by stopes.
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Origin of stope

1740–50; apparently < Low German stope; see stoop2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for stoped

Historical Examples

  • She stoped immediately and turned around and went on down the River.

    The Stronghold

    Miriam Haynie

  • I Stoped the Canoes and brought in the flesh which was fat and fine.

    The Journals of Lewis and Clark

    Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

  • You helped pack the mud to build the butte and stoped out the guest chamber down in hell!

    Shadow Mountain

    Dane Coolidge

British Dictionary definitions for stoped

stope

noun
  1. a steplike excavation made in a mine to extract ore
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verb
  1. to mine (ore, etc) by cutting stopes
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Word Origin

C18: probably from Low German stope; see stoop ²
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for stoped

stope

v.

1778, "to cut in stopes" (1747), apparently cognate with step (n.). Related: Stoped.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper