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droop (drp)
Share:
v. drooped, droop·ing, droops
v.intr.
1. To bend or hang downward: "His mouth drooped sadly, pulled down, no doubt, by the plump weight of his jowls" (Gore Vidal).
2. To bend or sag gradually: flowers drooping in the midday heat.
3. To sag in dejection or exhaustion: drooped from lack of sleep.
v.tr.
To let bend or hang down: "He drooped his body over the rail" (Norman Mailer).
n.
The act or condition of drooping.
[Middle English droupen, from Old Norse drūpa; see dhreu- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
droopi·ly, drooping·ly adv.
droopy adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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