Library / English Dictionary

MOP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: mopped    , mopping   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cleaning implement consisting of absorbent material fastened to a handle; for cleaning floors

Synonyms:

mop; swab; swob

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("mop" is a kind of...):

cleaning device; cleaning equipment; cleaning implement (any of a large class of implements used for cleaning)

Meronyms (parts of "mop"):

mop handle (the handle of a mop)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mop"):

dry mop; dust mop; dustmop (a dry swab for dusting floors)

sponge mop (a wet mop with a sponge as the absorbent)

Derivation:

mop (to wash or wipe with or as if with a mop)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a sad face and thrust out one's lower lip

Example:

The girl pouted

Synonyms:

mop; mow; pout

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "mop" is one way to...):

grimace; make a face; pull a face (contort the face to indicate a certain mental or emotional state)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

To wash or wipe with or as if with a mop

Example:

He mopped her forehead with a towel

Synonyms:

mop; mop up; wipe up

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "mop" is one way to...):

absorb; draw; imbibe; soak up; sop up; suck; suck up; take in; take up (take in, also metaphorically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "mop"):

swab; swob (wash with a swab or a mop)

sponge (soak up with a sponge)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

mop (cleaning implement consisting of absorbent material fastened to a handle; for cleaning floors)

mopper (a worker who uses a mop to clean a surface)

mopping (cleaning with a mop)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Once released, the PAR starts mopping up calcium into larger droplets which stick onto the components in artery walls that give the artery its elasticity, where they form ordered crystals and solidify, hardening the arteries.

(Cause of hardening of the arteries – and potential treatment – identified, University of Cambridge)

On the other hand, there were the fox terriers, a score of them at least, who yelped fearful promises at Toots and Ysabel looking out of the windows at them and protected by a legion of housemaids armed with brooms and mops.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Sterndale mopped his forehead with his handkerchief.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The sweat burst through the skin of his forehead in tiny beads, and he paused and mopped his bronzed face with his handkerchief.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

With a handkerchief in one hand he mopped his face, while in the other hand he carried a new hat and a wilted starched collar which he had removed from his neck.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

"Hannah will tell us what to do, and we'll have everything nice when you come home," added Beth, getting out her mop and dish tub without delay.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I HAD led this life about a month, when the man with the wooden leg began to stump about with a mop and a bucket of water, from which I inferred that preparations were making to receive Mr. Creakle and the boys.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“Maybe I can carry more, too,” said he serenely, whilst Caleb Baldwin mopped the big sponge over his face, and the shining bottom of the tin basin ceased suddenly to glimmer through the water.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He mopped his forehead dry and glanced about him with a controlled face, though in the eyes there was an expression such as wild animals betray when they fear the trap.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Harkey lay on the floor, face downward, where he had fallen; while Dutchy rested forward on the table, his yellow mop of hair buried in his mush- plate, the plate itself still tilted at an angle of forty-five degrees.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)