different between dear vs swoop

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /di??/
• Rhymes: -??(r)
• Homophones: deer, Deere

Etymology 1

From Middle English dere, from Old English d?ere (“of great value or excellence, expensive, beloved”), from Proto-Germanic *diurijaz (“dear, precious, expensive”). Cognate with Scots dere, deir (“of great value or worth, highly valued, precious, beloved”), Saterland Frisian djuur (“precious, dear, costly, expensive”), Dutch duur (“costly, precious”), German teuer (“costly, precious”), Danish dyr (“expensive”), Swedish dyr (“expensive”), Norwegian dyr (“expensive”), Icelandic dýr (“expensive”).

Adjective

dear (comparative dearer, superlative dearest)

1. (generally dated) High in price; expensive.
   • 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant Of Venice, Act IV Scene 1

     There's more depends on this than on the value.

     The dearest ring in Venice will I give you,

     And find it out by proclamation:

     Only for this, I pray you, pardon me.

   • 1902, Briquettes as Fuel in Foreign Countries (report of the United States Bureau of Foreign Commerce):

     This water is sold for 50 cents per ton, which is not dear under the circumstances.

   • 1966, The Beatles, When I'm Sixty-Four

     Every summer we can rent a cottage in the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear.

2. Loved; lovable.
   • So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

3. Lovely; kind.
4. Loving, affectionate, heartfelt

5. Precious to or greatly valued by someone.

6. A formal way to start (possibly after my) addressing somebody at the beginning of a letter, memo etc.

7. A formal way to start (often after my) addressing somebody one likes or regards kindly.
8. An ironic way to start (often after my) addressing an inferior.

9. (obsolete) Noble.

Derived terms

Related terms

• darling

Translations

Noun

dear (plural dears)

1. A very kind, loving person.

   My cousin is such a dear, always drawing me pictures.

2. A beloved person.
3. An affectionate, familiar term of address, such as used between husband and wife.

   Pass me the salt, would you dear?

Synonyms

• (kind loving person): darling

Derived terms

• oh dear
• the dear knows

Translations

Verb

dear (third-person singular simple present dears, present participle dearing, simple past and past participle deared)

1. (obsolete) To endear.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shelton to this entry?)

Derived terms

• bedear

Adverb

dear (comparative more dear, superlative most dear)

1. dearly; at a high price

Interjection

dear

1. Indicating surprise, pity, or disapproval.

   Dear, dear! Whatever were they thinking?

See also

• oh dear
• dear me

Etymology 2

From Middle English dere (“fierce, severe, hard, deadly”), from Old English d?or, d?r (“brave, bold; severe, dire, vehement”), from Proto-Germanic *deuzaz. Cognate with the above

Adjective

dear (comparative more dear, superlative most dear)

1. Severe, or severely affected; sore.
2. (obsolete) Fierce.

Translations

References

• The Middle English Dictionary

Anagrams

• 'eard, DARE, Dare, Rade, Read, Reda, ared, dare, rade, read

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [d?a??]

Verb

dear (present analytic dearann, future analytic dearfaidh, verbal noun dearadh, past participle deartha)

1. To draw (design).

Conjugation

Mutation

English

Etymology

From Middle English swopen, from Old English sw?pan (“to sweep”). See also sweep.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sw?p, IPA^(key): /?swu?p/
• Rhymes: -u?p

Verb

swoop (third-person singular simple present swoops, present participle swooping, simple past and past participle swooped)

1. (intransitive) To fly or glide downwards suddenly; to plunge (in the air) or nosedive.

   The lone eagle swooped down into the lake, snatching its prey, a small fish.

2. (intransitive) To move swiftly, as if with a sweeping movement, especially to attack something.

   The dog had enthusiastically swooped down on the bone.

   • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

     There was a person called Nana who ruled the nursery. Sometimes she took no notice of the playthings lying about, and sometimes, for no reason whatever, she went swooping about like a great wind and hustled them away in cupboards.

3. (transitive) To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing.
   • Quoted in 1971, The Scriblerian (volumes 4-5, page 2)

     And his Eagles, which can with the same ease as a kite swoops a chicken, snatch up a strong built Chamber of wood 12 foot square, & well crampt & fortified with Iron, with all its furniture, & a man besides, & carry it to the Clouds?

4. (transitive) To seize; to catch up; to take with a sweep.
   • 1670, John Dryden, The Conquest of Granada

     And now at last you come to swoop it all.

   • 1661, Joseph Glanvill, The Vanity of Dogmatizing

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

5. (intransitive) To pass with pomp; to sweep.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion song 1 p. 6[1]:

     Proude Tamer swoopes along, with such a lustie traine

     As fits so brave a flood two Countries that divides:

6. (Britain, prison slang) To search the ground for discarded cigarette butts that can be made into new cigarettes.
   • 1989, Michael Bettsworth, Marking Time: A Prison Memoir (page 32)

     He was forever diving into dustbins or swooping on to the ground for cigarette ends.

   • 2015, Noel 'Razor' Smith, The Criminal Alphabet: An A-Z of Prison Slang

     Swooping is picking up discarded cigarette butts from the exercise yard and anywhere else they can be found.

Translations

Noun

swoop (plural swoops)

1. An instance, or the act of suddenly plunging downward.

   The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. – Sun Tzu

   • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

     One evening, when the Boy was going to bed, he couldn't find the china dog that always slept with him. Nana was in a hurry, and it was too much trouble to hunt for china dogs at bedtime, so she simply looked about her, and seeing that the toy cupboard door stood open, she made a swoop.

2. A sudden act of seizing.
   • 1612, John Webster, The White Devil

     Fortune's a right whore. If she give ought, she deals it in small parcels, that she may take away all at one swoop.

3. (music) A quick passage from one note to the next.
   • 2008, Russell Dean Vines, Composing Digital Music For Dummies (page 281)

     Originally, computers' attempts at making music were recognizable by their beeps and boops and weird swoops.

Translations

See also

• one fell swoop