different between droop vs lessen

droop

English

Etymology

From Middle English droupen, from Old Norse drúpa (to droop), from Proto-Germanic *dr?pan?, *drup?n? (to hang down, drip, drop), from Proto-Indo-European *d?rewb- (to drip, drop).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: dr?p, IPA(key): /?d?u?p/
  • Rhymes: -u?p
  • Homophone: drupe

Verb

droop (third-person singular simple present droops, present participle drooping, simple past and past participle drooped)

  1. (intransitive) To hang downward; to sag.
    • 1866, John Keegan Casey, “Maire My Girl” in A Wreath of Shamrocks, Dublin: Robert S. McGee, p. 20,[1]
      On the brown harvest tree
      Droops the red cherry.
    • a. 1992, quote attributed to Sylvester Stallone
      I'm not handsome in the classical sense. The eyes droop, the mouth is crooked, the teeth aren't straight, the voice sounds like a Mafioso pallbearer, but somehow it all works.
  2. (intransitive) To slowly become limp; to bend gradually.
    • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act III, Scene 2,[2]
      Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;
      While night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.
    • 1676, Thomas Hobbes (translator), Homer’s Iliads in English, London: William Crook, Book 18, p. 289,[3]
      The Grapes that on it hung were black, and all
      The Vines supported and from drooping staid
      With silver Props, that down they could not fall []
    • Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze. When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth [].
  3. (intransitive) To lose all energy, enthusiasm or happiness; to flag.
    • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King John, Act V, Scene 1,[4]
      But wherefore do you droop? why look you sad?
    • 1685, John Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis, London: Jacob Tonson, XII, p. 17,[5]
      Amidst the peaceful Triumphs of his Reign,
      What wonder if the kindly beams he shed
      Reviv’d the drooping Arts again []
    • 1711, Jonathan Swift, “The Accomplishment of the First of Mr. Bickerstaff’s Predictions” in Miscellanies, London: John Morphew, p. 284,[6]
      I saw him accidentally once or twice about 10 Days before he died, and observed he began very much to Droop and Languish []
    • 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, London: J. Tonson, Act I, Scene 2, p. 5,[7]
      I’ll animate the Soldier’s drooping Courage,
      With Love of Freedom, and Contempt of Life.
  4. (transitive) To allow to droop or sink.
    • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act II, Scene 5,[8]
      [] pithless arms, like to a wither’d vine
      That droops his sapless branches to the ground;
    • 1892, Arthur Christopher Benson, “Knapweed” in Le Cahier Jaune: Poems, Eton: privately printed, p. 62,[9]
      Down in the mire he droops his head;
      Forgotten, not forgiven.
  5. To proceed downward, or toward a close; to decline.
    • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 11, lines 175-178,[10]
      [] let us forth,
      I never from thy side henceforth to stray,
      Wherere our days work lies, though now enjoind
      Laborious, till day droop []
    • 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “The Princess” in The Princess; a Medley, London: Edward Moxon, p. 46,[11]
      [] and now when day
      Droop’d, and the chapel tinkled, mixt with those
      Six hundred maidens clad in purest white []

Derived terms

  • droopage

Translations

Noun

droop (plural droops)

  1. Something which is limp or sagging.
  2. A condition or posture of drooping.
  3. (aviation) A hinged portion of the leading edge of an aeroplane's wing, which swivels downward to increase lift during takeoff and landing.

Coordinate terms

(part of aeroplane wing):

  • slat

Translations

Derived terms

  • brewer's droop
  • droop nose
  • droop snoot

Related terms

  • drooped
  • drooping
  • droopy

References

  • droop at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

  • Podor

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -o?p

Verb

droop

  1. singular past indicative of druipen

droop From the web:

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  • what droopy means
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lessen

English

Etymology

From Middle English lessenen, lasnen, equivalent to less +? -en (verbal suffix).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: l??s?n, IPA(key): /?l?s?n/
  • Rhymes: -?s?n
  • Homophone: lesson

Verb

lessen (third-person singular simple present lessens, present participle lessening, simple past and past participle lessened)

  1. (transitive) To make less; to diminish; to reduce.
    • a. 1686, Benjamin Calamy, a sermon
      Charity [] shall lessen his punishment.
    • December 6, 1709, Francis Atterbury, a sermon preach'd before the sons of the clergy at their anniversary-meeting in the Church of St. Paul
      St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it.
  2. (intransitive) To become less.

Translations

Conjunction

lessen

  1. (nonstandard, dialect) unless.

Anagrams

  • Elsens, elsens, lenses, sensel

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?l?s?(n)/
  • Rhymes: -?s?n

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch lesschen, from a merger of two Old Dutch [Term?] verbs:

  • *leskan, from Proto-Germanic *leskan?; class 5 strong, intransitive.
  • lesken, from Proto-Germanic *laskijan?; class 1 weak, causative of the first verb.

Verb

lessen

  1. (transitive) to quench (thirst)
Inflection
Derived terms
  • blussen

Etymology 2

From les +? -en.

Verb

lessen

  1. (intransitive) to take a lesson (usually a driving lesson)
Inflection

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

lessen

  1. Plural form of les

Hungarian

Etymology

les +? -jen

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [?l????n]
  • Hyphenation: les?sen

Verb

lessen

  1. third-person singular subjunctive present indefinite of les

Swedish

Adjective

lessen

  1. Alternative spelling of ledsen

Anagrams

  • selens

lessen From the web:

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  • what lessen means
  • what lessens the effects of covid
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  • what lessens human dignity
  • what lessens swelling
  • what lessens milk supply
  • what lessens hot flashes
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