hoop [hoop, hoo p] ExamplesWord Origin noun
- a circular band or ring of metal, wood, or other stiff material.
- such a band for holding together the staves of a cask, tub, etc.
- a large ring of iron, wood, plastic, etc., used as a plaything for a child to roll along the ground.
- a circular or ringlike object, part, figure, etc.
- the shank of a finger ring.
- Croquet. a wicket.
- a circular band of stiff material used to expand and display a woman’s skirt.
- hoop skirt.
- Basketball Informal.
- the metal ring from which the net is suspended; rim.
- the metal ring and net taken together; the basket.
- the game of basketball.
- a decorative band, as around a mug or cup.
- hoop iron.
verb (used with object)
- to bind or fasten with or as if with a hoop or hoops.
- to encircle; surround.
Origin of hoop 1125–75; Middle English hope, hoop, late Old English hōp; cognate with Dutch hoep Related formshoop·less, adjectivehoop·like, adjectiveun·hooped, adjective Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Related Words for hoops basket, rim, band, circle, loop, circlet, net Examples from the Web for hoops Contemporary Examples of hoops
Given the hoops mania, though, the gym is the largest in the state, capable of holding 3,000-plus rabid fans.
Native American Basketball Team in Wyoming Have Hoop Dreams Of Their Own
Robert Silverman
August 31, 2014
Education is a series of hoops to jump through, not a process of self-improvement or self-discovery.
China’s Schools Teaches Kids to Take Tests, Obey the State, and Not Much More
Junheng Li
November 30, 2013
There are also a 50-year-old lap pool and a smaller-than regulation basketball court with hoops on each end.
Patricia Murphy
June 16, 2011
But even in hoops McHale should be able to handle the REM frontman, who attended the University of Georgia.
March Madness: Which Celebrity Alumni Will Win?
Michael Solomon
March 17, 2011
Historical Examples of hoops
The Graces were then summoned, and after them the Muses—all in hoops, powder, and paint.
Beauty and The Beast, and Tales From Home
Bayard Taylor
I see, the dancing-girl is standing ready; they are handing her some hoops.
Xenophon
The parrots only, swinging in their hoops, filled the air with their cries.
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Do you remember the big blue parrots that swung in hoops from the chandeliers?
Alice Hegan Rice
It used to be used for the ribs of umbrellas and for ladies’ hoops.
Various
British Dictionary definitions for hoops hoop 1 noun
- a rigid circular band of metal or wood
- something resembling this
-
- a band of iron that holds the staves of a barrel or cask together
- (as modifier)hoop iron
- a child’s toy shaped like a hoop and rolled on the ground or whirled around the body
- croquet any of the iron arches through which the ball is driven
-
- a light curved frame to spread out a skirt
- (as modifier)a hoop skirt; a hoop petticoat
- basketball the round metal frame to which the net is attached to form the basket
- a large ring through which performers or animals jump
- jewellery
- an earring consisting of one or more circles of metal, plastic, etc
- the part of a finger ring through which the finger fits
- Australian informal a jockey
- go through the hoop or be put through the hoop to be subjected to an ordeal
verb
- (tr) to surround with or as if with a hoop
Derived Formshooped, adjectivehooplike, adjectiveWord Origin for hoop Old English hōp; related to Dutch hoep, Old Norse hōp bay, Lithuanian kabẽ hook hoop 2 noun, verb
- a variant spelling of whoop
Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for hoops 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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Idioms and Phrases with hoops hoop
see jump through hoops.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.