Word.ws English Dictionary

mop

UK/mɒp//mɑp/

mop noun: an implement for washing floors or similar, made of a piece of cloth, or a collection of thrums, or coarse yarn, fastened to a handle.

mop: an implement for washing floors or similar, made of a piece of cloth, or a collection of thrums, or...
Image: Rome Picasso 2018 MDUHSYE, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

mop (countable and uncountable, plural mops)

  1. An implement for washing floors or similar, made of a piece of cloth, or a collection of thrums, or coarse yarn, fastened to a handle.
  2. A wash with a mop; the act of mopping.
    • He gave the floor a quick mop to soak up the spilt juice.
  3. (humorous) A dense head of hair.
    • He ran a comb through his mop and hurried out the door.
    • The hair is very peculiar, being harsh, dry, and frizzly, growing in little tufts or curls, which in youth are very short and compact, but afterwards grow out to a considerable length, forming the compact frizzled mop which is the Papuans' pride and glory.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 445
  4. (UK, West-Midlands, dialectal) An annual fair where servants were historically hired.
    • I means to goo to th' mop, 'er sez, fur I waants a chahinge.[…]'T wuz to w:Muckley mop 'er went.1897, Hamilton Kingsford, Vigornian Monologues: A Series of Papers in Illustration of the Dialect of Worcestershire, page 18
    • The Mop Fairs attracted the attention of moralists. The hiring system was seen as a means to acquire girls for prostitution; although there is no evidence that this occurred in Stratford, where girls plying for hire were generally accompanied by their formidable mothers.2014 August 15, Nicholas Fogg, Stratford-upon-Avon: The Biography
  5. (UK, obsolete) A tassel worn in a buttonhole to indicate ones occupation in such a fair.
    • Mop Fairs: Today's annual events are the modern version of the old hiring fairs, where people attended seeking employment or to change it. They are named after the practice of hopefully skilled employees carrying tassels, known as mops, in their buttonholes indicating their occupation. Those who...2022, Graham Sutherland, Secret Warwick
  6. (Multicultural-London-English, slang, African-American Vernacular) A firearm particularly if it has a large magazine (compare broom, but still can be related to MP)
    • Mainstream in this ting but I'm fully on opps
      Got shot with a mop but that boy never dropped2021 July 4, M24, “Plugged In”, Fumez the Engineer (music), 2:16–2:19
    Synonyms:
    firearm, gat, gun, iron, piece
  7. (slang, uncountable) Fellatio.
    • Had his thot give me mop in the back of my Bimmer2019, “Laneswitch”, in True 2 Myself, performed by Lil Tjay
  8. A squeezable high-flow paint marker with an extra-wide felt or foam tip.
  9. A row of ropes dragged along the seabed for catching starfish.
  10. (slang) A drunkard.
    • Left his pa's farm and is now working at the city water works. Some say he's got to drink 'cause he works with blue vitriol and that kind of stuff. He was a drunken mop always.1931, Folk-say, page 183

Verb (1)

mop (third-person singular simple present mops, present participle mopping, simple past and past participle mopped)

  1. (transitive) To rub, scrub, clean or wipe with a mop, or as if with a mop.
    • to mop (or scrub) a floor
    • to mop one's face with a handkerchief
  2. (US, slang) To shoplift.
    • By “mopping” (stealing) the clothes and accessories necessary to effect their look, or by buying breasts, reconstructed noses, lifted chins, and female genitals, the children turn traditional ideas of labor around: […]2013, Martha Gever, Pratibha Parmar, John Greyson, Queer Looks, page 111

Noun (2)

mop (plural mops)

  1. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) The young of any animal.
  2. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) A young girl; a moppet.
  3. A made-up face; a grimace.
    • What mops and mowes it makes! --c. 1621, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Pilgrim”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii
    • Before you can say 'Come' and 'Go,'
      And breathe twice; and cry 'so, so,'
      Each one, tripping on his toe,
      Will be here with mop and mow.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...

Verb (2)

mop (third-person singular simple present mops, present participle mopping, simple past and past participle mopped)

  1. (intransitive) To make a wry expression with the mouth.
    • Flibbertigibbet, [is scared of] moping and mowing, who since possesses chambermaids and waiting-womenc. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • There were women and children as well as men in the place, and all, ragged and half naked, mopped and mowed at the passers, or, leaping to their feet, defied them with unspeakable words and gestures.1904, Stanley J. Weyman, “XII. The Peasants' Camp”, in The Abbess of Vlaye

Noun (3) capitalized: MOP

MOP (countable and uncountable, plural MOPs or MOP)

  1. (US) GBU-57; Acronym of Massive Ordnance Penetrator.
    • The MOP — a 30,000-pound bomb with 6,000 pounds of explosives — was designed for “reaching and destroying our adversaries’ weapons of mass destruction located in well-protected facilities,” according to a fact sheet from the US Air Force.2025 June 21, Kevin Liptak, “Strikes on Iranian nuclear sites thrust US into escalating Middle East conflict”, in CNN
  2. (Marxism, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of means of production.
  3. (Marxism, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of mode of production.
  4. (Internet, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of method of payment.
    • Item: TWICELAND Fantasy Park Photobook (Sealed) / Price: 800 pesos only / DOP: PAYO / MOD: SCO or GGX / MOP: BPI or Gcash2023 February 28, Teudoongie Shop (@TeudoongieShop), Twitter
  5. (abbreviation, initialism, obsolete) Initialism of muriate of potash.
  6. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of member of the public.

Noun (4) capitalized: MoP

MoP (plural MoP)

  1. (Marxism) Alternative letter-case form of MOP (“means of production”).
  2. (Marxism) Alternative letter-case form of MOP (“mode of production”).

mop meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

mop in Hindi

implement for washing floors
पोछा pochā
to rub, scrub, clean or wipe with a mop, or as if with a mop
पोछा लगाना pochā lagānā

mop in Marathi

मॉप करा, मॉप

mop in Urdu

موپ, موپ کریں

mop in Bengali

মোপ
More languagesFewer languages
mop in Malayalam
മോപ്പ്, മോപ്
mop in Kannada
ಮೋಪ್
mop in Punjabi
ਮੋਪ
mop in Gujarati
મોપ કરો, મૉપ કરો, મોપ
mop in Odia
ମୋପ୍ କରନ୍ତୁ, ମୋପ୍
mop in Nepali
मोप, मोप गर्नुहोस्
mop in Tagalog
lampaso
mop in Arabic
مِمْسَحَة mimsaḥa
mop in Persian
زمینشوی zaminshuy
mop in Thai
ไม้ถูบ้าน máai tŏo bâan
mop in Vietnamese
cán lau nhà

Examples of mop in a sentence

  • Mop Fairs: Today's annual events are the modern version of the old hiring fairs, where people attended seeking employment or to change it.2022, Graham Sutherland, Secret Warwick:
  • They are named after the practice of hopefully skilled employees carrying tassels, known as mops, in their buttonholes indicating their occupation.2022, Graham Sutherland, Secret Warwick:

All 40 example sentences with mop

Synonyms of mop

All synonyms of mop

Forms of mop

Noun
pluralmops
pluralMOPs
pluralMOP
alternative formMoP
pluralMoP
Verb
third-person singular presentmops
present participlemopping
past participlemopped
pastmopped

Plural of mop: mops

Origin of mop

From Middle English mappe (also as mappel), perhaps borrowed from Walloon mappe (“napkin”), from Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”). Believed to be from a Semitic source, variously claimed as Phoenician or Punic (the latter by Quintilian). Compare Modern Hebrew מַפָּה (mapá, “a map; a cloth”) (shortened from מַנְפָּה (manpah, “fluttering banner, streaming cloth”)). Doublet of map, nape, and nappe.

From Middle English moppe (“fool, simpleton; derisive gesture; child, baby, doll”), of obscure origin, but compare Proto-West Germanic *mauwu (“pout, protruding lip”). Compare Low German mop, mops (“simpleton; pugnosed dog”), Dutch mop, mops (“pugnosed dog”), and the verb mope.

Words formed from mop

Phrases with mop

Words that rhyme with mop

44 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about mop

What does mop mean?
Mop means an implement for washing floors or similar, made of a piece of cloth, or a collection of thrums, or coarse yarn, fastened to a handle.
What is mop in Hindi?
Mop in Hindi is पोछा (pochā), पोछा लगाना (pochā lagānā). See Mop meaning in Hindi.
How do you use mop in a sentence?
Mop Fairs: Today's annual events are the modern version of the old hiring fairs, where people attended seeking employment or to change it.
What part of speech is mop?
Mop can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce mop?
Mop is pronounced /mɒp/ (UK).
What is the plural of mop?
The plural of mop is mops.

Words near mop in the dictionary

  1. moove
  2. mooved
  3. mooves
  4. mooving
  5. Moozemlek
  6. mop
  7. mop bucket
  8. mop buckets
  9. mop down
  10. mop head
  11. mop heads

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mop (page history and authors); MOP (page history and authors); MoP (page history and authors); mop (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mop (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mop (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mop (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mop (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mop (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mop (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mop (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mop (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-mop.ogg.

Cite this entry: “mop.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mop. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.