n. 1. The act of stopping, or the state of being stopped; hindrance of progress or of action; cessation; repression; interruption; check; obstruction. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is doubtful . . . whether it contributed anything to the stop of the infection. De Foe. [ 1913 Webster ]

Occult qualities put a stop to the improvement of natural philosophy. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is a great step toward the mastery of our desires to give this stop to them. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which stops, impedes, or obstructs; as obstacle; an impediment; an obstruction. [ 1913 Webster ]

A fatal stop traversed their headlong course. Daniel. [ 1913 Webster ]

So melancholy a prospect should inspire us with zeal to oppose some stop to the rising torrent. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mach.) A device, or piece, as a pin, block, pawl, etc., for arresting or limiting motion, or for determining the position to which another part shall be brought. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Mus.) (a) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The organ sound a time survives the stop. Daniel. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) In the organ, one of the knobs or handles at each side of the organist, by which he can draw on or shut off any register or row of pipes; the register itself; as, the vox humana stop. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Arch.) A member, plain or molded, formed of a separate piece and fixed to a jamb, against which a door or window shuts. This takes the place, or answers the purpose, of a rebate. Also, a pin or block to prevent a drawer from sliding too far. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A point or mark in writing or printing intended to distinguish the sentences, parts of a sentence, or clauses; a mark of punctuation. See Punctuation. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Opt.) The diaphragm used in optical instruments to cut off the marginal portions of a beam of light passing through lenses. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Zool.) The depression in the face of a dog between the skull and the nasal bones. It is conspicuous in the bulldog, pug, and some other breeds. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Phonetics) Some part of the articulating organs, as the lips, or the tongue and palate, closed (a) so as to cut off the passage of breath or voice through the mouth and the nose (distinguished as a lip-stop, or a front-stop, etc., as in p, t, d, etc.), or (b) so as to obstruct, but not entirely cut off, the passage, as in l, n, etc.; also, any of the consonants so formed. H. Sweet. [ 1913 Webster ]

Stop bead (Arch.), the molding screwed to the inner side of a window frame, on the face of the pulley stile, completing the groove in which the inner sash is to slide. --
Stop motion (Mach.), an automatic device for arresting the motion of a machine, as when a certain operation is completed, or when an imperfection occurs in its performance or product, or in the material which is supplied to it, etc. --
Stop plank, one of a set of planks employed to form a sort of dam in some hydraulic works. --
Stop valve, a valve that can be closed or opened at will, as by hand, for preventing or regulating flow, as of a liquid in a pipe; -- in distinction from a valve which is operated by the action of the fluid it restrains. --
Stop watch, a watch the hands of which can be stopped in order to tell exactly the time that has passed, as in timing a race. See Independent seconds watch, under Independent, a. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Cessation; check; obstruction; obstacle; hindrance; impediment; interruption. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To cease to go on; to halt, or stand still; to come to a stop. [ 1913 Webster ]

He bites his lip, and starts;
Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground;
Then lays his finger on his temple: strait
Springs out into fast gait; then stops again. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cease from any motion, or course of action. [ 1913 Webster ]

Stop, while ye may, suspend your mad career! Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To spend a short time; to reside temporarily; to stay; to tarry; as, to stop with a friend. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

By stopping at home till the money was gone. R. D. Blackmore. [ 1913 Webster ]

To stop over, to stop at a station or airport beyond the time of the departure of the train or airplane on which one came, with the purpose of continuing one's journey on a subsequent train or airplane; to break one's journey. See stopover, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Stopped p. pr. & vb. n. Stopping. ] [ OE. stoppen, AS. stoppian (in comp.); akin to LG. & D. stoppen, G. stopfen, Icel. stoppa, Sw. stoppa, Dan. stoppe; all probably fr. LL. stopare, stupare, fr. L. stuppa the coarse part of flax, tow, oakum. Cf. Estop, Stuff, Stupe a fomentation. ] 1. To close, as an aperture, by filling or by obstructing; as, to stop the ears; hence, to stanch, as a wound. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To obstruct; to render impassable; as, to stop a way, road, or passage. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To arrest the progress of; to hinder; to impede; to shut in; as, to stop a traveler; to stop the course of a stream, or a flow of blood. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To hinder from acting or moving; to prevent the effect or efficiency of; to cause to cease; to repress; to restrain; to suppress; to interrupt; to suspend; as, to stop the execution of a decree, the progress of vice, the approaches of old age or infirmity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whose disposition all the world well knows
Will not be rubbed nor stopped. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mus.) To regulate the sounds of, as musical strings, by pressing them against the finger board with the finger, or by shortening in any way the vibrating part. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To point, as a composition; to punctuate. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

If his sentences were properly stopped. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Naut.) To make fast; to stopper. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To obstruct; hinder; impede; repress; suppress; restrain; discontinue; delay; interrupt. [ 1913 Webster ]

To stop off (Founding), to fill (a part of a mold) with sand, where a part of the cavity left by the pattern is not wanted for the casting. --
To stop the mouth. See under Mouth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A bib, faucet, or short pipe, fitted with a turning stopper or plug for permitting or restraining the flow of a liquid or gas; a cock or valve for checking or regulating the flow of water, gas, etc., through or from a pipe, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The turning plug, stopper, or spigot of a faucet. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Stoped p. pr. & vb. n. Stoping. ] (Mining) (a) To excavate in the form of stopes. (b) To fill in with rubbish, as a space from which the ore has been worked out. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Step, n. & v. i. ] (Mining) A horizontal working forming one of a series, the working faces of which present the appearance of a flight of steps. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } p. p. of Step. Stepped; gone; advanced. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A poor widow, somedeal stope in age. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. That which closes or fills up an opening or gap; hence, a temporary expedient. [ 1913 Webster ]

Moral prejudices are the stop-gaps of virtue. Hare. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mining) The act of excavating in the form of stopes. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not to be stopped. Davenant. [ 1913 Webster ]