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Origin and history of swoop

swoop(v.)

1560s, "move or walk in a stately manner," apparently from a dialectal survival of Old English swapan "to sweep, brandish, dash," from Proto-Germanic *swaip-, which is perhaps from a PIE root *swei- "to bend, turn" (but see swing (v.)).

The meaning "pounce upon with a sweeping movement," in reference to a bird of prey, is by 1630s, from swoop (n.). The spelling with -oo- may have been influenced by Scottish and northern England dialectal soop "to sweep," from Old Norse sopa "to sweep." Related: Swooped; swooping.

swoop(n.)

"sudden pouncing of a rapacious bird on its prey," 1605, first and memorably in Shakespeare:

Oh, Hell-Kite! All? What, All my pretty Chickens, and their Damme, At one fell swoope? ["Macbeth," IV.iii.219]

Perhaps it is from or connected with the same word in a sense of "a blow, stroke" (1540s); compare swoop (v.). This sense is archaic, but was preserved in fencing.

also from 1605

Entries linking to swoop

swing(v.)

Middle English swingen "cause to move, throw, cast, fling; move, dash, rush;" also "deliver a blow, smite with a weapon," from Old English swingan "to beat, strike; scourge, flog; to rush, fling oneself" (strong verb, past tense swang, past participle swungen). This is from Proto-Germanic *swangwi- (source also of Middle Dutch swingen, Old Saxon, Old High German swingan "to swing," Old Frisian swinga "pour," German schwingen "to swing, swingle, oscillate"), which is of uncertain origin and might be in Germanic only. Swirl, switch, swivel, swoop are sometimes considered to be from the same source. Boutkan finds Pokorny's IE reconstruction implausible for formal and semantic reasons.

The meaning "move freely back and forth," as a body suspended from a fixed point, is recorded by 1540s; that of "move with a swinging step" is by 1854. The transitive sense "cause to sway or oscillate" is from 1550s. From 1660s as "ride on a swing;" colloquially, "be hanged," 1520s.

The sense of "bring about, make happen" is by 1934. Related: Swung; swinging.

sweep(v.)

early 14c., swepen, "make clean by sweeping with a broom;" mid-14c., "perform the act of sweeping," replacing earlier swope, and perhaps originally the past tense form of it. Middle English swope "sweep" is from Old English swapan "to sweep" (transitive and intransitive), for which see swoop (v.). Or perhaps sweep is from a Scandinavian source cognate to this or an unrecorded Old English *swipian. Related: Swept; sweeping. Swope also was used as a dialectal past tense of sweep.

It is attested from late 14c. as "hasten, rush, move or pass along swiftly and strongly" (intransitive); from c. 1400 in the transitive sense of "drive quickly, impel, move or carry forward by force." It is attested from late 14c. also as "collect (debris, etc.) by sweeping;" mid-15c. as "clear (something) away, remove by or as if by a sweeping blow." By 1630s as "draw or drag something over" (a lake, a minefield, etc.).

By 1892 as "achieve widespread popularity" (as in sweeping the nation). The meaning "win all the events" is by 1960, American English (compare sweepstakes). The sense of "pass the eye systematically over (a surface) in search of something" is from 1727. To sweep (one) off (one's) feet "affect with infatuation" is from 1913.

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    pounce
    1680s, originally "to seize with the pounces," from Middle English pownse (n.) "hawk's claw" (see pounce (n.1)). The earlier verb sense was "perforate, make holes in" (late 14c.). Meaning "to jump or fall upon suddenly" is from 1812. Figurative sense of "lay hold of eagerly" is f
    slide
    Middle English sliden, "glide, move smoothly and easily over a surface," also "to fall, lose one's balance through slipping," from Old English slidan (intransitive, past tense slad, past participle sliden) "to glide, slip, fall, fall down;" figuratively "fail, lapse morally, err;
    stoop
    The literal sense of "swoop" is recorded by 1570s in falconry. Related: Stooped; stooping....
    world war
    Page asserted that the predatory nations would swoop down upon them and a world war would result....
    fall
    Old English feallan (class VII strong verb; past tense feoll, past participle feallen) "to drop from a height; fail, decay, die," from Proto-Germanic *fallanan (source also of Old Frisian falla, Old Saxon fallan, Dutch vallen, Old Norse falla, Old High German fallan, German falle
    sidle
    "to move obliquely, go sideways," 1690s, a back-formation from obsolete sideling (adv.) "obliquely, sideways; aslant; laterally" (early 14c., sidlyng), from side (n.) + adverbial suffix -ling (compare darkling, headlong). Probably back-formed on the model of verbs ending in -le.
    descend
    c. 1300, descenden, "move or pass from a higher to a lower place," from Old French descendre (10c.) "descend, dismount; fall into; originate in" and directly from Latin descendere "come down, descend, sink," from de "down" (see de-) + scandere "to climb," from PIE root *skand- "j
    descent
    c. 1300, "genealogical extraction from an original or progenitor," from Old French descente "descent, descendance, lineage," formed from descendre "to come down" (see descend) on analogy of French nouns such as attente from attendre "to expect," vente "sale" from vendre "to sell,
    snap
    1550s, perhaps late 15c., "a quick, sudden bite or cut; an eager seizing," from snap (v.), or, if the earlier date, a noun from Dutch or Low German snappen "to snap," which are probably related to Middle Low German or Middle Dutch snavel "bill, beak," which Watkins traced to a hy
    span
    [distance between two objects] Middle English spanne, a unit of length, from Old English span "distance between the thumb and the middle or little finger of an extended hand" (as a measure of length, roughly nine inches), probably related to Middle Dutch spannen "to join, fasten,

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