a rigid circular band of metal or wood or other material used for holding or fastening or hanging or pulling
<noun.artifact> there was still a rusty iron hoop for tying a horse
a small arch used as croquet equipment
<noun.artifact>
horizontal circular metal hoop supporting a net through which players try to throw the basketball
<noun.artifact> [ verb ]
bind or fasten with a hoop
<verb.contact> hoop vats
Hoop \Hoop\, n. [OE. hope; akin to D. hoep, hoepel.] 1. A pliant strip of wood or metal bent in a circular form, and united at the ends, for holding together the staves of casks, tubs, etc.
2. A ring; a circular band; anything resembling a hoop, as the cylinder (cheese hoop) in which the curd is pressed in making cheese.
3. A circle, or combination of circles, of thin whalebone, metal, or other elastic material, used for expanding the skirts of ladies' dresses; crinoline; -- used chiefly in the plural.
Though stiff with hoops, and armed with ribs of whale. --Pope.
4. A quart pot; -- so called because originally bound with hoops, like a barrel. Also, a portion of the contents measured by the distance between the hoops. [Obs.]
5. An old measure of capacity, variously estimated at from one to four pecks. [Eng.] --Halliwell.
{Bulge hoop}, {Chine hoop}, {Quarter hoop}, the hoop nearest the middle of a cask, that nearest the end, and the intermediate hoop between these two, respectively.
{Flat hoop}, a wooden hoop dressed flat on both sides.
{Half-round hoop}, a wooden hoop left rounding and undressed on the outside.
{Hoop iron}, iron in thin narrow strips, used for making hoops.
{Hoop lock}, the fastening for uniting the ends of wooden hoops by notching and interlocking them.
{Hoop skirt}, a framework of hoops for expanding the skirts of a woman's dress; -- called also {hoop petticoat}.
{Hoop snake} (Zo["o]l.), a harmless snake of the Southern United States ({Abaster erythrogrammus}); -- so called from the mistaken notion that it curves itself into a hoop, taking its tail into its mouth, and rolls along with great velocity.
{Hoop tree} (Bot.), a small West Indian tree ({Melia sempervirens}), of the Mahogany family.
Hoop \Hoop\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Hooped}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Hooping}.] 1. To bind or fasten with hoops; as, to hoop a barrel or puncheon.
2. To clasp; to encircle; to surround. --Shak.
Hoop \Hoop\, v. i. [OE. houpen; cf. F. houper to hoop, to shout; -- a hunting term, prob. fr. houp, an interj. used in calling. Cf. {Whoop}.] 1. To utter a loud cry, or a sound imitative of the word, by way of call or pursuit; to shout. [Usually written {whoop}.]
2. To whoop, as in whooping cough. See {Whoop}.
{Hooping cough}. (Med.) See {Whooping cough}.
Hoop \Hoop\, v. t. [Written also whoop.] 1. To drive or follow with a shout. ``To be hooped out of Rome.'' --Shak.
2. To call by a shout or peculiar cry.
Hoop \Hoop\, n. 1. A shout; a whoop, as in whooping cough.
2. (Zo["o]l.) The hoopoe. See {Hoopoe}.
Hoopoe \Hoop"oe\, Hoopoo \Hoop"oo\, n. [So called from its cry; cf. L. upupa, Gr. ?, D. hop, F. huppe; cf. also G. wiedenhopf, OHG. wituhopfo, lit., wood hopper.] (Zo["o]l.) A European bird of the genus {Upupa} ({Upupa epops}), having a beautiful crest, which it can erect or depress at pleasure, and a slender down-curving bill. Called also {hoop}, {whoop}. The name is also applied to several other species of the same genus and allied genera.
"The administration is asking Republican members to go through the hoop any number of times getting no points for their own parochial interests," complains House GOP Leader Bob Michel of Illinois.
Incredibly, they tried (and missed) only one shot from the field in the last 4 1/2 minutes, while the Hoosiers repeatedly and successfully stormed the hoop with all hands.
"It's in the hips," confided Jackie Eastman, 11, of Penasquitos, who got a hoop for her birthday March 9 and already can twirl it for 10 minutes at a stretch.
Taketa looks the happier of the two in his hoop.
Though they still feel hurt and sorrow, many Indians also see the 100th anniversary as a chance to mend the Sioux Nation's sacred hoop - their spiritual and cultural traditions.
"It's just not fair" to make the Hallstroms "jump through a judicial hoop that has no purpose," Buckley told the nation's highest court.
With hooker styles at Angelo Tarlazzi and wild lampshade hoop skirts at Thierry Mugler, some fashion shows failed to resemble their purpose _ ready-to-wear.
Home Shopping has unsettled many investors and industries mainly because no one knows whether video retailing is a fad, like the hula hoop, or the beginning of a new industry, as the silicon chip proved to be.
Delegates looking for nostalgic flashbacks to crinoline petticoats and hoop skirts, moonlight and magnolias in modern Atlanta will just be whistling Dixie from memory and with no help at all from the convention podium.
"I feel very good in this, but quite hot," she said. "Excuse me, my hoop is slipping." The five said they will wear their costumes for most of this year to celebrate the 400th anniversary of England's defeat of the Spanish Armada.
Possibly a trimmer version of the pantaloons Mrs. Bloomer, an early feminist, devised in the 1800s to liberate womankind from hoop skirts.
Performing in a theater-in-the-round setting on an elaborate $2 million stage designed for his "Lovesexy" tour, Prince gyrated with his female dancer, Cat, among a giant urban playground that included a basketball hoop and a swing set.