hoop

[hoop, hoo p] /hup, hʊp/
noun
1.
a circular band or ring of metal, wood, or other stiff material.
2.
such a band for holding together the staves of a cask, tub, etc.
3.
a large ring of iron, wood, plastic, etc., used as a plaything for a child to roll along the ground.
4.
a circular or ringlike object, part, figure, etc.
5.
the shank of a finger ring.
6.
Croquet. a wicket.
7.
a circular band of stiff material used to expand and display a woman's skirt.
8.
hoop skirt.
9.
Basketball Informal.
  1. the metal ring from which the net is suspended; rim.
  2. the metal ring and net taken together; the basket.
  3. the game of basketball.
10.
a decorative band, as around a mug or cup.
11.
hoop iron.
verb (used with object)
12.
to bind or fasten with or as if with a hoop or hoops.
13.
to encircle; surround.
Origin
1125-75; Middle English hope, hoop, late Old English hōp; cognate with Dutch hoep
Related forms
hoopless, adjective
hooplike, adjective
unhooped, adjective
Examples from the web for hoop
  • They found that a double split ring, one metallic hoop nestled inside the other, worked even better than a single ring.
  • Then he began dunking a basketball into a six-foot hoop, nearby.
  • They played in the driveway, where there was a basketball hoop attached to the garage.
  • Plant looks best when stems are staked or grown in a hoop.
  • She bargains over several pieces, ending up with a pair of delicate silver hoop earrings.
  • For this purpose an iron bridle or hoop was bound across her face with four prongs thrust into her mouth.
  • Depending on the hand, a skin stretched on a hoop might be subtle enough for heartbeats, or the first fisted rumble of a storm.
  • Several gardens had plastic-covered hoop houses, greenhouses that in the dead of winter can get pretty grungy.
  • The plastic roof of the hoop house had blown straight off.
  • Instead, the cage is built around a tough central spire with a large hoop around the center.
British Dictionary definitions for hoop

hoop1

/huːp/
noun
1.
a rigid circular band of metal or wood
2.
something resembling this
3.
  1. a band of iron that holds the staves of a barrel or cask together
  2. (as modifier): hoop iron
4.
a child's toy shaped like a hoop and rolled on the ground or whirled around the body
5.
(croquet) any of the iron arches through which the ball is driven
6.
  1. a light curved frame to spread out a skirt
  2. (as modifier): a hoop skirt, a hoop petticoat
7.
(basketball) the round metal frame to which the net is attached to form the basket
8.
a large ring through which performers or animals jump
9.
(jewellery)
  1. an earring consisting of one or more circles of metal, plastic, etc
  2. the part of a finger ring through which the finger fits
10.
(Austral, informal) a jockey
11.
go through the hoop, be put through the hoop, to be subjected to an ordeal
verb
12.
(transitive) to surround with or as if with a hoop
Derived Forms
hooped, adjective
hooplike, adjective
Word Origin
Old English hōp; related to Dutch hoep, Old Norse hōp bay, Lithuanian kabẽ hook

hoop2

/huːp/
noun, verb
1.
a variant spelling of whoop
Word Origin and History for hoop
n.

late 12c., probably from an unrecorded Old English *hop, from Proto-Germanic *hopa-, a Low German-Frisian word (cf. Old Frisian hop, Middle Dutch and Dutch hoep "hoop," Old Norse hop "a small bay"). As something someone jumps through (on horseback) as a circus trick, by 1793. Figurative use of jump through hoops by 1917. The verb is from mid-15c. Hoop-petticoat is attested from 1711. As a surname, Hooper, literally "maker of hoops" is early 13c.

Slang definitions & phrases for hoop

hoop

modifier

Having to do with basketball: a hoop


hoop

modifier

Having to do with basketball: a hoop

noun
  1. A finger ring: the old hoop on that finger (1859+ fr underworld);
  2. The basketball net or basket; bucket (1930s Basketball)
  3. A basketball goal; bucket: He made six hoops last night (1940s+ Basketball)
verb

To vomit; barf, oops: One of the guys from Emergency Services hooped into his boots over it (1980s+)

Related Terms

flat tire


hoop

modifier

Having to do with basketball: a hoop team/ hoop scores (1940s+ Basketball)

noun
  1. A finger ring: the old hoop on that finger (1859+ fr underworld);
  2. The basketball net or basket; bucket (1930s Basketball)
  3. A basketball goal; bucket: He made six hoops last night (1940s+ Basketball)
verb

To vomit; barf, oops: One of the guys from Emergency Services hooped into his boots over it (1980s+)

Related Terms

flat tire


Idioms and Phrases with hoop

hoop

see: jump through hoops
Encyclopedia Article for hoop

circular toy adaptable to many games, children's and adults', probably the most ubiquitous of the world's toys, after the ball. The ancient Greeks advocated hoop rolling as a beneficial exercise for those not very strong. It was also used as a toy by both Greek and Roman children, as graphic representations indicate. Most of these ancient hoops were of metal. Most later hoops were of wood, though occasionally fitted with metal tires, as in the hoop-rolling-fad days of 19th-century England and the United States. North American Indians used the hoop as a target in teaching accuracy of throwing to the young. Adult Eskimos played a game that involved throwing poles through a rolling hoop.

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