▪ I. droop, v.
(druːp)
Forms: 3–4 drupe, 4 drope, 4–6 droupe, drowp(e, 6 Sc. drup, 6–7, (9 dial.) droup, 6– droop.
[ME. drupe-n, drowpe-n, a. ON. dr{uacu}pa to droop, hang the head, etc., deriv. wk. vb. f. ablaut series dreup-, draup-, drup-: see etymological note to drop n.]
1. intr. To hang or sink down, as from weariness or exhaustion; to bend, incline, or slope downward. Of the eyes: To be bent downward, with the eyelids lowered.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 16064 Iesus stode als a lambe, His hefde druppand [v. rr. drupand, droupande] dun. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 107 Hise arwes drouped noght with fetheres lowe. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 45 Thus droupes this loftie Pyne, and hangs his sprayes. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. Wks. 1856 I. 26 He is the flagging'st bulrush that ere droopt With each slight mist of raine. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 7 ¶16 The Bridegroom's Feathers in his Hat all drooped. 1858 A. W. Drayson Sporting S. Africa 64 The elephant..male twelve feet high, droops towards the tail. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. v, Bella's eyes drooped over her book. |
2. To sink, go down, descend. Now only poet.; of the sun, day, etc.: to decline, draw to a close.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 9447 Er I degh, or droupe in-to helle. Ibid. 10407 Þe day wex dym, droupit þe sun. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 357 The starrie Welkin couer thou anon With drooping fogge. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 178 Laborious til day droop. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam i. x. 5 The Eagle..as if it failed Drooped through the air. 1873 Black Pr. Thule xxvii. 452 The evening wore on, and the sun drooped in the west. |
† 3. To sink out of sight; to crouch or cower down; to lie hidden. Obs.
| c 1420 Anturs of Arth. iv, The dere in the dellun, Thay droupun and daren. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 133/2 Drowpyn, or prively to be hydde. c 1450 Henryson Test. Cres. (R.), His eien drouped hole sonken in his heed. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xx. xix, Here ben knyghtes..that wyl not longe droupe, & they are within these walles. |
4. To decline in vital strength and energy; to sink in physical exhaustion, languish, flag.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 122 Eson..Endured his dayes drowpynge in age. a 1400–50 Alexander 734 *She..drowpys doun in swone. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xliii. 420, I drup with a ded luke. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. xviii. 524 We had not been at Sea long, before our men began to droop, in a sort of distemper that stole insensibly on them. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 31 ¶3 This great Hero drooped like a scabbed Sheep. 1846 Dickens in Daily News (1896) 14 Feb., When our poor infants droop. |
b. transf. and fig. To flag, fail, decay.
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 34 The faith of Abraham began not to droope. 1607 Dekker & Webster Northw. Hoe i. D.'s Wks. 1873 III. 4 The towne droopt ever since the peace in Ireland. a 1618 Raleigh Rem. (1644) 198 For the encrease and enabling of Merchants, which now droop and daily decay. 1880 Bon. Price in Fraser's Mag. May 678 Trade languishes..the rate of interest droops. |
5. To flag in spirit or courage; to become dejected, dispirited, or despondent.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 4460 Sir, we are þe droupander [c 1340 Fairf. we droupe þe mare], For tua sueuens we sagh..to night. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 252 He drouped þerfore doune, & said þe lond were schent. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1103 Þan set he him doun drurymode; & dropede for hure sake. c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 223, I dre, I drowpe, I dare in drede. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. Prol. 158 To droup like a fordullit as. 1633 P. Fletcher Poet. Misc. 86 Why droop'st, my soul? Why faint'st thou in my breast? 1709 Steele Tatler No. 159 ¶5 Must my Terentia droop under the Weight of Sorrow? 1838 [see drooping ppl. a. 3]. |
6. trans. To let hang or sink down; to bend or incline downwards; to cast down, lower, turn towards the ground (the eyes or face).
| 1583 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 33 Thee Godes hard louring to the ground her phisnomye drowped. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. v. 12 A withered Vine, That droupes his sappe-lesse Branches to the ground. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. v, He droopes his eye. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 34 [The reindeer] resembles the stag, only it somewhat droops the head. 1832 Tennyson Eleänore vi, I cannot veil, or droop my sight. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 64 The shears being drooped, shift the..blocks. |
† b. nonce use with out: To express by drooping.
| 1605 Tryall Chev. iv. i. in Bullen O. Pl. (1884) III. 319 Why wither not these trees..And every neighbour branch droup out their grief? |
c. To cause to drop, fell, lay low.
| 1819 B. Cornwall Dram. Scenes, Rape Proserpine, And if the woodman's axe should droop the tree The woodbine too must perish. |
▪ II. droop, n.
(druːp)
[f. droop v.]
1. The act or fact of drooping; drooping action or condition; downward bend or sinking.
| 1647 H. More Song of Soul 1. iii. xxv, Get up out of thy drowsie droop. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) I. xxviii. 226 His only blemish a droop of the left eyelid. 1853 Sir H. Douglas Milit. Bridges (ed. 3) 375 The droop of the chain is 14 feet. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxx. 409 The droop of the shoulders. 1874 Forster Dickens (Househ. Ed.) 314 Such indications of a droop in his invention. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. xxiii, Singing a..droning sailor's song, with a droop and a quaver at the end of every verse. |
2. A fool; a languid person; a ‘drip’. U.S. slang.
| 1932 J. T. Farrell Studs Lonigan, Youth (1936) iv. 88 He was afraid that he might be acting like a droop. 1940 in Amer. Speech (1942) XVII. 205/1 Don't be a droop. |
3. attrib., as droop-snoot, -snooter Aeronaut., an aircraft with a down-sloping, usu. adjustable, nose; the nose of such an aircraft; also, an adjustable flap at the leading edge of a wing (see quots.). orig. U.S.
| 1945 N.Y. Times 5 Apr. 1/2 America's ‘droop-snoot’ bomber, a P-38 Lightning modified to lead standard P-38 formations in precision bombings. Ibid., The ‘droop-snooter’, a fighter with a combined bombardier-navigator compartment added in its nose ahead of the pilot's cockpit. 1955 Sci. News Let. 8 Oct. 230 Nose of the Fairey Delta 2, a single-seat delta-wing research aircraft, can be lowered, rather like a drawbridge, to give the pilot a good forward view for landing, take-off and taxiing. ‘Droop-Snoot’ is the second British aircraft capable of supersonic speed in level flight. 1962 New Scientist 18 Jan. 134 The ‘droop snoot’..is virtually a false leading edge, hinged so that it can be tilted downwards. 1969 Courier Mail (Brisbane) 21 May 1/5 Nicknamed ‘Droop Snoots’, the machines had been in communication with the Apollo astronauts. |
▪ III. droop, a. rare.
Also 6 drup, droup, drowp.
[The stem of droop v. used adjectively.]
= drooping ppl. a.
The 13th c. instances are doubtful; they may be for drupiest from drupi, droopy.
| [a 1225 St. Marher. 16, I..diueri ant darie drupest alre þinge. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 2050 Druicninde & dreori, & drupest alre monne.] 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 192 Into derne, at the deid, he salbe drup [v.r. droup] fundin. Ibid. 370 Eftir dede of that drupe, that docht nought in chalmir. ? 16.. Laird o' Laminton xiii. in Child Ballads vii. ccxxi. (1890) 220/2 Droop and drowsie was the blood. 1852 Meanderings of Mem. I. 87 In the droop ash shade. |
b. esp. in parasynthetic combs., as droop-headed, droop-nosed, etc.
| 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 29 If it [the Croupe] fall too hastily, the Horse is said to be droop-arsed. a 1821 Keats Ode to Melanch. 13 The droop-headed flowers. 1881 A. J. Evans in Macm. Mag. XLIII. 228 The..fine aquiline nose which distinguish[es] these Serbian mountaineers from their droop-nosed lowland kinsmen. |