hoop Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a light curved skeleton to spread out a skirt
  2. noun a rigid circular band of metal or wood or other material used for holding or fastening or hanging or pulling
    ring.
    • there was still a rusty iron hoop for tying a horse
  3. noun a small arch used as croquet equipment
    wicket.
  4. noun horizontal circular metal hoop supporting a net through which players try to throw the basketball
    basket; basketball hoop.
  5. verb bind or fasten with a hoop
    • hoop vats

WordNet

Hoop noun
Etymology
OE. hope; akin to D. hoep, hoepel.
Definitions
  1. A pliant strip of wood or metal bent in a circular form, and united at the ends, for holding together the staves of casks, tubs, etc.
  2. A ring; a circular band; anything resembling a hoop, as the cylinder (cheese hoop) in which the curd is pressed in making cheese.
  3. A circle, or combination of circles, of thin whalebone, metal, or other elastic material, used for expanding the skirts of ladies' dresses; crinoline; -- used chiefly in the plural.
    Though stiff with hoops, and armed with ribs of whale. Pope.
  4. 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. Obs.
  5. An old measure of capacity, variously estimated at from one to four pecks. Eng. Halliwell.
Hoop transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Hooped ; present participle & verbal noun Hooping
Definitions
  1. To bind or fasten with hoops; as, to hoop a barrel or puncheon.
  2. To clasp; to encircle; to surround. Shak.
Hoop intransitive verb
Etymology
OE. houpen; cf. F. houper to hoop, to shout; -- a hunting term, prob. fr. houp, an interj. used in calling. Cf. Whoop.
Definitions
  1. To utter a loud cry, or a sound imitative of the word, by way of call or pursuit; to shout. Usually written whoop.
  2. To whoop, as in whooping cough. See Whoop.
Hoop transitive verb
Etymology
Written also whoop.
Definitions
  1. To drive or follow with a shout. "To be hooped out of Rome." Shak.
  2. To call by a shout or peculiar cry.
Hoop noun
Definitions
  1. A shout; a whoop, as in whooping cough.
  2. (Zoöl.) The hoopoe. See Hoopoe.

Webster 1913