(v. t.) To close, as an aperture, by filling or by obstructing;
as, to stop the ears; hence, to stanch, as a wound.
(v. t.) To obstruct; to render impassable; as, to stop a way,
road, or passage.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) To point, as a composition; to punctuate.
(v. t.) To make fast; to stopper.
(v. i.) To cease to go on; to halt, or stand still; to come to a
stop.
(v. i.) To cease from any motion, or course of action.
(v. i.) To spend a short time; to reside temporarily; to stay; to
tarry; as, to stop with a friend.
(n.) The act of stopping, or the state of being stopped; hindrance
of progress or of action; cessation; repression; interruption; check;
obstruction.
(n.) That which stops, impedes, or obstructs; as obstacle; an
impediment; an obstruction.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
(n.) The diaphragm used in optical instruments to cut off the
marginal portions of a beam of light passing through lenses.
(n.) 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.
(n.) 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.
