hoop

Meanings

Noun

• A circular band of metal used to bind a barrel.
• A ring; a circular band; anything resembling a hoop.
• A circular band of metal, wood, or similar material used for forming part of a framework such as an awning or tent.
• A circle, or combination of circles, of thin whalebone, metal, or other elastic material, used for expanding the skirts of ladies' dresses; a hoop petticoat or hoop skirt.
• A quart pot; so called because originally bound with hoops, like a barrel. Also, a portion of the contents measured by the distance between the hoops.
• An old measure of capacity, variously estimated at from one to four pecks.
• The rim part of a basketball net.
• The game of basketball.
• A hoop earring.
• A horizontal stripe on the jersey.
• A jockey.
• An obstacle that must be overcome in order to proceed.
• A shout; a whoop, as in whooping cough.
• The hoopoe.

Verb

• To bind or fasten using a hoop.
• To clasp; to encircle; to surround.
• To utter a loud cry, or a sound imitative of the word, by way of call or pursuit; to shout.
• To whoop, as in whooping cough.

Origin

• From Middle English hoop, hoope, from Old English hōp, from Proto-Germanic *hōpą (compare Saterland Frisian Houp, Dutch hoep, Old Norse hóp), from Proto-Indo-European *kāb- (compare Lithuanian kabė, Old Church Slavonic кѫпъ). More at camp.