Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Stop \Stop\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stopped}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Stopping}.] [OE. stoppen, AS. stoppian (in comp.); akin to
   LG. & D. stoppen, G. stopfen, Icel. stoppa, Sw. stoppa, Dan.
   stoppe; all probably fr. LL. stopare, stupare, fr. L. stuppa
   the coarse part of flax, tow, oakum. Cf. {Estop}, {Stuff},
   {Stupe} a fomentation.]
   1. To close, as an aperture, by filling or by obstructing;
      as, to stop the ears; hence, to stanch, as a wound.
      --Shak.

   2. To obstruct; to render impassable; as, to stop a way,
      road, or passage.

   3. To arrest the progress of; to hinder; to impede; to shut
      in; as, to stop a traveler; to stop the course of a
      stream, or a flow of blood.

   4. To hinder from acting or moving; to prevent the effect or
      efficiency of; to cause to cease; to repress; to restrain;
      to suppress; to interrupt; to suspend; as, to stop the
      execution of a decree, the progress of vice, the
      approaches of old age or infirmity.

            Whose disposition all the world well knows Will not
            be rubbed nor stopped.                --Shak.

   5. (Mus.) To regulate the sounds of, as musical strings, by
      pressing them against the finger board with the finger, or
      by shortening in any way the vibrating part.

   6. To point, as a composition; to punctuate. [R.]

            If his sentences were properly stopped. --Landor.

   7. (Naut.) To make fast; to stopper.

   Syn: To obstruct; hinder; impede; repress; suppress;
        restrain; discontinue; delay; interrupt.

   {To stop off} (Founding), to fill (a part of a mold) with
      sand, where a part of the cavity left by the pattern is
      not wanted for the casting.

   {To stop the mouth}. See under {Mouth}.

Stop \Stop\, v. i.
   1. To cease to go on; to halt, or stand still; to come to a
      stop.

            He bites his lip, and starts; Stops on a sudden,
            looks upon the ground; Then lays his finger on his
            temple: strait Springs out into fast gait; then
            stops again.                          --Shak.

   2. To cease from any motion, or course of action.

            Stop, while ye may, suspend your mad career!
                                                  --Cowper.

   3. To spend a short time; to reside temporarily; to stay; to
      tarry; as, to stop with a friend. [Colloq.]

            By stopping at home till the money was gone. --R. D.
                                                  Blackmore.

   {To stop over}, to stop at a station beyond the time of the
      departure of the train on which one came, with the purpose
      of continuing one's journey on a subsequent train; to
      break one's journey. [Railroad Cant, U.S.]

Stop \Stop\, n.
   1. The act of stopping, or the state of being stopped;
      hindrance of progress or of action; cessation; repression;
      interruption; check; obstruction.

            It is doubtful . . . whether it contributed anything
            to the stop of the infection.         --De Foe.

            Occult qualities put a stop to the improvement of
            natural philosophy.                   --Sir I.
                                                  Newton.

            It is a great step toward the mastery of our desires
            to give this stop to them.            --Locke.

   2. That which stops, impedes, or obstructs; as obstacle; an
      impediment; an obstruction.

            A fatal stop traversed their headlong course.
                                                  --Daniel.

            So melancholy a prospect should inspire us with zeal
            to oppose some stop to the rising torrent. --Rogers.

   3. (Mach.) A device, or piece, as a pin, block, pawl, etc.,
      for arresting or limiting motion, or for determining the
      position to which another part shall be brought.

   4. (Mus.)
      (a) The closing of an aperture in the air passage, or
          pressure of the finger upon the string, of an
          instrument of music, so as to modify the tone; hence,
          any contrivance by which the sounds of a musical
          instrument are regulated.

                The organ sound a time survives the stop.
                                                  --Daniel.
      (b) In the organ, one of the knobs or handles at each side
          of the organist, by which he can draw on or shut off
          any register or row of pipes; the register itself; as,
          the vox humana stop.

   5. (Arch.) A member, plain or molded, formed of a separate
      piece and fixed to a jamb, against which a door or window
      shuts. This takes the place, or answers the purpose, of a
      rebate. Also, a pin or block to prevent a drawer from
      sliding too far.

   6. A point or mark in writing or printing intended to
      distinguish the sentences, parts of a sentence, or
      clauses; a mark of punctuation. See {Punctuation}.

   7. (Opt.) The diaphragm used in optical instruments to cut
      off the marginal portions of a beam of light passing
      through lenses.

   8. (Zo["o]l.) The depression in the face of a dog between the
      skull and the nasal bones. It is conspicuous in the
      bulldog, pug, and some other breeds.

   9. (Phonetics) Some part of the articulating organs, as the
      lips, or the tongue and palate, closed
      (a) so as to cut off the passage of breath or voice
          through the mouth and the nose (distinguished as a
          lip-stop, or a front-stop, etc., as in p, t, d, etc.),
          or
      (b) so as to obstruct, but not entirely cut off, the
          passage, as in l, n, etc.; also, any of the consonants
          so formed. --H. Sweet.

   {Stop bead} (Arch.), the molding screwed to the inner side of
      a window frame, on the face of the pulley stile,
      completing the groove in which the inner sash is to slide.
      

   {Stop motion} (Mach.), an automatic device for arresting the
      motion of a machine, as when a certain operation is
      completed, or when an imperfection occurs in its
      performance or product, or in the material which is
      supplied to it, etc.

   {Stop plank}, one of a set of planks employed to form a sort
      of dam in some hydraulic works.

   {Stop valve}, a valve that can be closed or opened at will,
      as by hand, for preventing or regulating flow, as of a
      liquid in a pipe; -- in distinction from a valve which is
      operated by the action of the fluid it restrains.

   {Stop watch}, a watch the hands of which can be stopped in
      order to tell exactly the time that has passed, as in
      timing a race. See {Independent seconds watch}, under
      {Independent}, a.

   Syn: Cessation; check; obstruction; obstacle; hindrance;
        impediment; interruption.

Source : WordNet®

stop
     n 1: the event of something ending; "it came to a stop at the
          bottom of the hill" [syn: {halt}]
     2: the act of stopping something; "the third baseman made some
        remarkable stops"; "his stoppage of the flow resulted in a
        flood" [syn: {stoppage}]
     3: a brief stay in the course of a journey; "they made a
        stopover to visit their friends" [syn: {stopover}, {layover}]
     4: the state of inactivity following an interruption; "the
        negotiations were in arrest"; "held them in check";
        "during the halt he got some lunch"; "the momentary stay
        enabled him to escape the blow"; "he spent the entire stop
        in his seat" [syn: {arrest}, {check}, {halt}, {hitch}, {stay},
         {stoppage}]
     5: a spot where something halts or pauses; "his next stop is
        Atlanta"
     6: a consonant produced by stopping the flow of air at some
        point and suddenly releasing it; "his stop consonants are
        too aspirated" [syn: {stop consonant}, {occlusive}, {plosive
        consonant}, {plosive speech sound}, {plosive}] [ant: {continuant
        consonant}]
     7: a punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative
        sentence to indicate a full stop or after abbreviations;
        "in England they call a period a stop" [syn: {period}, {point},
         {full stop}, {full point}]
     8: (music) a knob on an organ that is pulled to change the
        sound quality from the organ pipes; "the organist pulled
        out all the stops"
     9: a mechanical device in a camera that controls size of
        aperture of the lens; "the new cameras adjust the
        diaphragm automatically" [syn: {diaphragm}]
     10: a restraint that checks the motion of something; "he used a
         book as a stop to hold the door open" [syn: {catch}]
     11: an obstruction in a pipe or tube; "we had to call a plumber
         to clear out the blockage in the drainpipe" [syn: {blockage},
          {block}, {closure}, {occlusion}, {stoppage}]
     [also: {stopping}, {stopped}]

stop
     v 1: come to a halt, stop moving; "the car stopped"; "She stopped
          in front of a store window" [syn: {halt}] [ant: {start}]
     2: put an end to a state or an activity; "Quit teasing your
        little brother" [syn: {discontinue}, {cease}, {give up}, {quit},
         {lay off}] [ant: {continue}]
     3: stop from happening or developing; "Block his election";
        "Halt the process" [syn: {halt}, {block}, {kibosh}]
     4: interrupt a trip; "we stopped at Aunt Mary's house"; "they
        stopped for three days in Florence" [syn: {stop over}]
     5: cause to stop; "stop a car"; "stop the thief" [ant: {start}]
     6: prevent completion; "stop the project"; "break off the
        negociations" [syn: {break}, {break off}, {discontinue}]
     7: hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion
        or influence of; "Arrest the downward trend"; "Check the
        growth of communism in Sout East Asia"; "Contain the rebel
        movement"; "Turn back the tide of communism" [syn: {check},
         {turn back}, {arrest}, {contain}, {hold back}]
     8: seize on its way; "The fighter plane was ordered to
        intercept an aircraft that had entered the country's
        airspace" [syn: {intercept}]
     9: have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense;
        either spatial or metaphorical; "the bronchioles terminate
        in a capillary bed"; "Your rights stop where you infringe
        upon the rights of other"; "My property ends by the
        bushes"; "The symphony ends in a pianissimo" [syn: {end},
        {finish}, {terminate}, {cease}] [ant: {begin}]
     10: render unsuitable for passage; "block the way"; "barricade
         the streets"; "stop the busy road" [syn: {barricade}, {block},
          {blockade}, {block off}, {block up}, {bar}]
     11: stop and wait, as if awaiting further instructions or
         developments; "Hold on a moment!" [syn: {hold on}]
     [also: {stopping}, {stopped}]