Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Swoop \Swoop\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Swooped}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Swooping}.] [OE. swopen, usually, to sweep, As. sw[=a]pan to
   sweep, to rush; akin to G. schweifen to rove, to ramble, to
   curve, OHG. sweifan to whirl, Icel. sveipa to sweep; also to
   AS. sw[=i]fan to move quickly. Cf. {Sweep}, {Swift}, a. & n.,
   {Swipe}, {Swivel}.]
   1. To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing;
      as, a hawk swoops a chicken.

   2. To seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep.

            And now at last you came to swoop it all. --Dryden.

            The grazing ox which swoops it [the medicinal herb]
            in with the common grass.             --Glanvill.