droop
English
Etymology
From Middle English droupen, from Old Norse drúpa (“to droop”), from Proto-Germanic *drūpaną, *drupōną (“to hang down, drip, drop”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewb- (“to drip, drop”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: drūp, IPA(key): /ˈdɹuːp/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -uːp
- Homophone: drupe
Verb
droop (third-person singular simple present droops, present participle drooping, simple past and past participle drooped)
- (intransitive) To hang downward; to sag.
- 1866, John Keegan Casey, “Maire My Girl” in A Wreath of Shamrocks, Dublin: Robert S. McGee, p. 20,
- On the brown harvest tree
- Droops the red cherry.
- (Can we date this quote?) Sylvester Stallone (1946-)
- I'm not handsome in the classical sense. The eyes droop, the mouth is crooked, the teeth aren't straight, the voice sounds like a Mafioso pallbearer, but somehow it all works.
- 1866, John Keegan Casey, “Maire My Girl” in A Wreath of Shamrocks, Dublin: Robert S. McGee, p. 20,
- (intransitive) To slowly become limp; to bend gradually.
- c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act III, Scene 2,
- Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;
- While night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.
- 1676, Thomas Hobbes (translator), Homer’s Iliads in English, London: William Crook, Book 18, p. 289,
- The Grapes that on it hung were black, and all
- The Vines supported and from drooping staid
- With silver Props, that down they could not fall […]
- 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter III, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
- Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze. When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth […].
- 2010, john g rees, Halocline:
- His head had drooped with his hair across his face.
- 2012, Howie Carr, Hard Knocks:
- She was trying to hang in, but her chin was drooping onto her chest.
- c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act III, Scene 2,
- (intransitive) To lose all energy, enthusiasm or happiness; to flag.
- c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King John, Act V, Scene 1,
- But wherefore do you droop? why look you sad?
- 1685, John Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis, London: Jacob Tonson, XII, p. 17,
- Amidst the peaceful Triumphs of his Reign,
- What wonder if the kindly beams he shed
- Reviv’d the drooping Arts again […]
- 1711, Jonathan Swift, “The Accomplishment of the First of Mr. Bickerstaff’s Predictions” in Miscellanies, London: John Morphew, p. 284,
- I saw him accidentally once or twice about 10 Days before he died, and observed he began very much to Droop and Languish […]
- 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, London: J. Tonson, Act I, Scene 2, p. 5,
- I’ll animate the Soldier’s drooping Courage,
- With Love of Freedom, and Contempt of Life.
- c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King John, Act V, Scene 1,
- (transitive) To allow to droop or sink.
- c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act II, Scene 5,
- […] pithless arms, like to a wither’d vine
- That droops his sapless branches to the ground;
- 1892, Arthur Christopher Benson, “Knapweed” in Le Cahier Jaune: Poems, Eton: privately printed, p. 62,
- Down in the mire he droops his head;
- Forgotten, not forgiven.
- c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act II, Scene 5,
- To proceed downward, or toward a close; to decline.
- 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 11, lines 175-178,
- […] let us forth,
- I never from thy side henceforth to stray,
- Wherere our days work lies, though now enjoind
- Laborious, till day droop […]
- 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “The Princess” in The Princess; a Medley, London: Edward Moxon, p. 46,
- […] and now when day
- Droop’d, and the chapel tinkled, mixt with those
- Six hundred maidens clad in purest white […]
- 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 11, lines 175-178,
Derived terms
Translations
to sink or hang downward; to sag
to slowly become limp; to bend gradually
to lose all enthusiasm or happiness
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Noun
droop (plural droops)
Translations
Derived terms
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