Stop

v. t. [imp. & p. p. STOPPED (stŏpt); p. pr. & vb. n. STOPPING.] [L. Ger. & D. stoppen, Sw. stoppa, Dan. stoppe, Icel. stoppa, O. H. Ger. stophōn, N. H. Ger. stopfen, L. Lat. stopare, stupare, from Lat. stupa, stuppa, the coarse part of flax, tow, oakum; whence It. stoppare, O. Sp. estopar, Fr. étouper, to stop with tow.]

1Sense 1. To close, as an aperture, by filling or by obstructing; as, to stop a vent; to stop the ears.

2Sense 2. To obstruct; to render impassable; as, to stop a way, road, or passage.

3Sense 3. To arrest the progress of; to hinder; to impede; to shut in; as, to stop a passenger in the road; to stop the course of a stream.

4Sense 4. To hinder from acting or moving; to prevent the effect or efficiency of; to repress; to restrain; to suppress; to suspend; as, to stop the execution of a decree, the progress of vice, the approaches of old age or infirmity, and the like.

Whose disposition all the world well knows, Will not be rubbed nor stopped. Shak.

5Sense 5. To regulate the sounds of, as musical strings, by pressing them against the finger-board with the finger, or by other means, so as to shorten the vibrating part.

6Sense 6. To point, as a written composition; to punctuate. [Rare.] “If his sentences were properly stopped.” Landor.

7Sense 7. (Naut.) To make fast; to stopper.

Synonyms—To obstruct; hinder; impede; repress; suppress; restrain; delay; interrupt.

n. 1. The act of stopping or the state of being stopped; hindrance of progress, of operation, or of action; cessation; repression; interruption; check; obstruction. Occult qualities put a stop to the improvement of natural philosophy. Newton. It is a great step toward the mastery of our desires to give this stop to them. Locke. 2. That which stops, impedes, or obstructs; obstacle; impediment. A fatal stop traversed their headlong course. Daniel. So melancholy a prospect should inspire us with zeal to oppose some stop to the rising torrent. Rogers. 3. The closing of an aperture in the air-passage, or pressure of the finger upon the string, of an instrument of music, so as to modify the tone; hence, any contrivance by which the sounds of a musical instrument are regulated; as, an organ-stop, which is called also register. The organ-sound a time survives the stop. Daniel. The solemn pipe And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop. Milton. 4. A point or mark in writing, intended to distinguish the sentences, parts of a sentence, or clauses, and to show the proper pauses in reading; a mark of punctuation. The stops generally used are the comma, semicolon, colon, and period. To these may be added the marks of interrogation and exclamation. Syn. — Cessation; check; obstruction; hindrance; interruption. See CESSATION.