droop
/ˈdɹuːp/
droop verb: to hang downward; to sag.
Verb
droop (third-person singular simple present droops, present participle drooping, simple past and past participle drooped)
- To hang downward; to sag.
- On the brown harvest tree / Droops the red cherry.1866, John Keegan Casey, “Maire My Girl”, in A Wreath of Shamrocks, Dublin: Robert S. McGee, page 20
- Long before Shap platform showed up around a corner and the two arms on the gradient post drooped in both directions at once, Duchess of Buccleuch's amiable throbbing purr at the stack [funnel, chimney] had become a fierce freight-engine bark, as she resolutely dragged at her enormous load.1949 January and February, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–1”, in Railway Magazine, page 12
- Synonyms:
- lop
- To slowly become limp; to bend gradually.
- Good things of day begin to droop and drowse; / While night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- The Grapes that on it hung were black, and all / The Vines supported and from drooping staid / With silver Props, that down they could not fall […]1676, Thomas Hobbes, transl., Homer’s Iliads in English, London: William Crook, Book 18, p. 289
- To lose all energy, enthusiasm or happiness; to flag.
- But wherefore do you droop? why look you sad?c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Amidst the peaceful Triumphs of his Reign, / What wonder if the kindly beams he shed / Reviv’d the drooping Arts again […]1685, John Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis, London: Jacob Tonson, XII, p. 17
- To allow to droop or sink.
- […] pithless arms, like to a wither’d vine / That droops his sapless branches to the ground;1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Down in the mire he droops his head;
Forgotten, not forgiven.1892, Arthur Christopher Benson, “Knapweed” in Le Cahier Jaune: Poems, Eton: privately printed, p. 62
- To proceed downward, or toward a close; to decline.
- […] let us forth, / I never from thy side henceforth to stray, / Wherere our days work lies, though now enjoind / Laborious, till day droop […]1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- […] and now when day / Droop’d, and the chapel tinkled, mixt with those / Six hundred maidens clad in purest white […]1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part II”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 46
Noun
droop (plural droops)
Adjective
droop (comparative more droop, superlative most droop)
- Drooping; adroop.
- But when the melancholy fit shall fall / Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud, / That fosters the droop-headed flowers all. / And hides the green hill in an April shroud :c. 1880s, C. M. Kirtland, “Ode on Melancholy”, in Poetry of the Flowers, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., page 505
droop meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
droop in Tamil
- சோர்வடை, சோர்வு, தளர்வு, மனந்தளர்
droop in Urdu
- ڈھلنا, دل بیٹھنا, جھکنا, کملانا, مرجھانا, پژ مردہ ہونا
droop in Malayalam
- തളരുക, കുനിയുക, കീഴോട്ടു നോക്കുക, കണ്ണടഞ്ഞു പോകുക, വാടുക
droop in Kannada
- ಬಾಗು, ಜೋಲು, ನಲುಗು, ಬಾಡು, ತಗಲುಬೀಳ್, ತಗಲುಬೀಳು
Examples of droop in a sentence
- Others who conscientiously attended the Technical College at night often drooped over their desks in a doze, and one does not wonder at it.1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 285:
- His head had drooped with his hair across his face.2010, john g rees, Halocline:
- She was trying to hang in, but her chin was drooping onto her chest.2012, Howie Carr, Hard Knocks:
- I saw him accidentally once or twice about 10 Days before he died, and observed he began very much to Droop and Languish […]1711 (date written), [Jonathan Swift], Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, volume I, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, →OCLC, page...
Synonyms of droop
Forms of droop
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | droops |
| present participle | drooping |
| past participle | drooped |
| past | drooped |
| Noun | |
| plural | droops |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more droop |
| superlative | most droop |
Origin of droop
Inherited from Middle English droupen, from Old Norse drúpa (“to droop”), from Proto-Germanic *drūpaną, *drupōną (“to hang down, drip, drop”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewb- (“to drip, drop”). Doublet of drip and drop.
Words formed from droop
- adroop
- droopage
- drooper
- brewer's droop
- droop nose
- droop snoot
Phrases with droop
Words that rhyme with droop
39 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- cloop
- whoop
- coupe
- regroup
- roop
- saloop
- sloop
- snoop
- stoup
- alley oop
- boop
- gloop
- goop
- horse scoop
- jupe
- loupe
- roup
- troupe
- Tuesday Group
- astoop
- chat group
- croup
- dedupe
- drupe
- fisherman's soup
- FOUP
- French onion soup
- ginger group
- L'Anse-au-Loup
- locker loop
- matrix group
- ploop
- pupe
- shoop
- stewp
- stoep
- stupe
- voop
- zoop
Questions about droop
- What does droop mean?
- Droop means to hang downward; to sag.
- What is droop in Tamil?
- Droop in Tamil is சோர்வடை, சோர்வு, தளர்வு. See Droop meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use droop in a sentence?
- Others who conscientiously attended the Technical College at night often drooped over their desks in a doze, and one does not wonder at it.
- What part of speech is droop?
- Droop can be a verb, a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce droop?
- Droop is pronounced /ˈdɹuːp/.
- What is the past tense of droop?
- The past tense of droop is drooped.
Words near droop in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: droop (page history and authors); droop (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); droop (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); droop (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); droop (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-droop.ogg.
Cite this entry: “droop.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/droop. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.