Swoop | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Swōōp, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. SWOOPED (swōōpt); p. pr. & vb. n. SWOOPING.] [Allied to sweep.]

To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing; as, a hawk swoops a chicken; a kite swoops up a mouse.
To seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep.

The physician looks with another eye on the medicinal herb than the grazing ox which swoops it in with the common grass. Glanville. 3. To pass with violence. [Obs.] Drayton.

An engraved illustration of a swordfish with a long pointed bill and tall dorsal fin. — Sword-fish (*Xiphias gladius*).

Swŏŏp, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To pass with pomp; to sweep. [Obs.] Drayton. 2. To descend with closed wings from a height upon prey, as a hawk; to stoop.

Swŏŏp, n.

noun

n. A falling on and seizing, as of a rapacious fowl on his prey.

The eagle fell, . . . and carried away a whole litter of cubs at a swoop. L’Estrange.