stop
stop
/stɒp/
not move
The car stopped at the traffic lights.
Ann stopped in front of the house.
This train doesn’t stop at Oxford.
stop somebody/something He was stopped by the police for speeding.
She stopped the car opposite the school.
Suddenly he stopped dead: what was he doing?
The buses stop outside the school.
Soldiers took up positions along roads, stopping and searching cars.
Passers-by stopped and stared in the window.
She made them stop the car and let her out.
Flooding has stopped the traffic through the center of town.
Collocations
adverb
verb + stop
cantry to
be going to
preposition
from
phrases
know how to stop
know when to stop
not continue
Can't you just stop?
stop doing something That phone never stops ringing!
Don't you ever stop talking?
Please stop crying and tell me what's wrong.
She criticizes everyone and the trouble is, she doesn't know when to stop.
stop somebody/something Stop me (= make me stop talking) if I'm boring you.
Stop it! You're hurting me.
stop what… Mike immediately stopped what he was doing.
He never knows when to stop.
He couldn't stop thinking about her.
I was enjoying myself so much I didn't want to stop.
We need to stop making excuses.
After three weeks we had stopped expecting to hear any news.
She's trying to stop smoking and lose weight.
They can't stop talking about the holiday.
She didn't stop working until she was 80.
They paid farmers to stop using chemicals.
It's time to stop playing and go home.
end
When is this fighting going to stop?
The bus service stops at midnight.
stop doing something Has it stopped raining yet?
stop something Doctors couldn't stop the bleeding.
The referee was forced to stop the game because of heavy snow.
She called on both sides to stop the violence.
When is the violence going to stop?
The sobs came less frequently, then stopped altogether.
The story stops and starts, with little emphasis on continuity.
The peace movement failed to stop the war.
He knew he had to stop the blood flow.
On the farm, the work never stops.
prevent
4 transitive to prevent somebody from doing something; to prevent something from happening stop somebody/something I want to go and you can't stop me.
efforts to stop the spread of the disease
There's no stopping us now (= nothing can prevent us from achieving what we want to achieve).
stop somebody/something (from) doing something You can't stop people (from) saying what they think.
They tried to stop me from leaving.
There's nothing to stop you from accepting the offer.
He's dangerous and needs to be stopped.
Measures must be taken to stop the spread of the virus.
The activists failed to stop the tests from going ahead.
If she wants to go, I'm certainly not going to try and stop her.
Technology could help to stop future attacks.
The internet has stopped young people from talking to each other.
for short time
5 intransitive to end an activity for a short time in order to do something stop for something I'm hungry. Let's stop for lunch.
We stopped for the night in Port Augusta.
stop to do something We stopped to admire the scenery.
People just don't stop to think about the consequences.
The film really makes you stop and think.
If you just stop and listen, it's amazing what you can hear.
not function
6 intransitive, transitive to no longer be working or functioning; to make something be no longer working or functioning Why has the engine stopped?
What time is it? My watch has stopped.
I felt as if my heart had stopped.
stop something Can you stop the printer once it’s started?
stay
7 intransitive (British English, informal) to stay somewhere for a short time, especially at somebody’s house I'm not stopping. I just came to give you this message.
stop for something Can you stop for tea?
money
stop something to stop a cheque (= tell the bank not to pay it)
Employees of the failed company will have their wages stopped from tomorrow.
stop something from something (British English) Dad threatened to stop £1 a week from our pocket money if we didn't clean our rooms.
close hole
9 transitive stop something (up) (with something) to block, fill or close a hole, an opening, etc. Stop up the other end of the tube, will you?
I stopped my ears but still heard her cry out.
Idioms
Phrasal Verbs
stop
/stɒp/
of bus/train
1 a place where a bus or train stops regularly for passengers to get on or off
I get off at the next stop.
Is this your stop?
Winchester will be the next station stop.
(North American English) Where's the nearest subway stop?
Piccadilly Circus is the next stop.
It's only a few stops on the subway.
I'm getting off at the last stop.
You're not allowed to get off between stops.
We were chatting and missed our stop.
The restaurant is only a few subway stops away.
The music shop was just three tram stops away from his flat.
Collocations
adjective
verb + stop
get off at
preposition
at a/the stop
between stops
act of stopping
2 an act of stopping or stopping something; the state of being stopped
The trip included an overnight stop in Brussels.
We made several stops along the way.
She brought the car to a stop.
Work has temporarily come to a stop while the funding is reviewed.
It is time to put a stop to the violence.
They campaigned to put up a stop sign at the busy intersection outside the school.
Between twelve and two, everything comes to a dead stop.
He is making a campaign stop in Lubbock, Texas.
She brought the car to an abrupt stop.
The police found the drugs during a routine traffic stop.
The truck came to a sudden stop.
There will be a stop at Aboyne.
We had a lunch stop at Timperley.
a stop for refreshments
to put a stop to all the arguments
The flight took 15 hours including the refuelling stop.
The President made an unscheduled stop in Quebec on Monday.
After a brief stop, the bus set off again.
New York is the final stop on the band's international tour.
Please keep your seatbelts fastened until we've come to a complete stop.
They made a quick stop at a small roadside diner for supper.
Collocations
adjective
verb + stop
stop + noun
preposition
stop at
stop for
phrases
bring something to a stop
come, draw, pull, slow, etc. to a stop
put a stop to something
punctuation
3 (also more frequent full stop, full point) (all British English) (North American English period) the mark ( . ) used at the end of a sentence and in some abbreviations, for example e.g.
music
4 a row of pipes on an organ that produce the different sounds
5 a handle on an organ that the player pushes in or pulls out to control the sound produced by the pipes
phonetics
6 a speech sound made by stopping the flow of air coming out of the mouth and then suddenly releasing it, for example /p/, /k/, /t/
Idioms
Word Origin
Old English (for)stoppian ‘block up (an aperture)’, of West Germanic origin; related to German stopfen, from late Latin stuppare ‘to stuff’.