swoop

Meanings

1. To fly or glide downwards suddenly; to plunge (in the air) or nosedive.
2. To move swiftly, as if with a sweeping movement, especially to attack something.
3. To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing.
4. To seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep.
5. To pass with pomp; to sweep.
6. To search the ground for discarded cigarette butts that can be made into new cigarettes.

1. An instance, or the act of suddenly plunging downward.
2. A sudden act of seizing.
3. A quick passage from one note to the next.

Etymology

From Middle English swopen, from Old English swāpan (“to sweep”). Doublet of swaip. See also sweep, which was probably the basis for analogical restoration of /w/ in this word.