• enPR: ho͞op, IPA: /huːp/

From Middle English hoop, hoope, from Old English hōp, from Proto-Germanic *hōpą (compare Saterland Frisian Houp, Dutch hoep, Old Norse hóp), from Proto-Indo-European *kāb- (compare Lithuanian kabė, Church Slavic кѫпъ).

hoop

1. A circular band of metal used to bind a barrel.
2. Any circular band or ring.

   Coordinate term: tyre

   the cheese hoop, or cylinder in which the curd is pressed in making cheese

   gymnastic hoop

   a hoop between trees

3. A circular band of metal, wood, or similar material used for forming part of a framework such as an awning or tent.
4. (now, chiefly, historical) A circle, or combination of circles, of thin whalebone, metal, or other elastic material, used for expanding the skirts of ladies' dresses; a hoop petticoat or hoop skirt.
   • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XVI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson;  […], →OCLC ↗:

     He took the removed chair and drew it so near mine, squatting in it with his ugly weight, that he pressed upon my hoop.

5. A quart-pot; so called because originally bound with hoops, like a barrel. Also, a portion of the contents measured by the distance between the hoops.
6. (UK, obsolete) An old measure of capacity, variously estimated at from one to four pecks.
7. (basketball) The rim part of a basketball net.
8. (US, in plural, metonym) The game of basketball.
9. A hoop earring.
10. (sport, usually, in the plural) A horizontal stripe on the jersey.
    • 2003 May 21, Barry Glendenning "Minute-by-minute: Celtic 2 - 3 FC Porto (AET)" ↗ The Guardian (London):

      Porto are playing from right to left in blue and white stripes, blue shorts and blue socks. Celtic are in their usual green and white hoops, with white shorts and white socks.

11. (Australia, metonym, slang, by extension) A jockey.
    • 2011, James Morton, Susanna Lobez, Kings of Stings: The Greatest Swindles from Down Under:

      The stewards ordered Des Coleman, the senior hoop (jockey) present, to ride and he got the horse home in a photo-finish.

12. (figurative, usually, in the plural) An obstacle that must be overcome in order to proceed.
13. (uncountable) Hooping .

• French: cercle, cerceau
• German: Reif
• Italian: cerchio
• Portuguese: aro
• Russian: о́бруч
• Spanish: aro

• Spanish: aro

hoop (hoops, present participle hooping; simple past and past participle hooped)

1. (transitive) To bind or fasten using a hoop.

   to hoop a barrel or puncheon

2. (transitive) To clasp; to encircle; to surround.
   • 1596, [attributed to William Shakespeare; Thomas Kyd], The Raigne of King Edward the Third: […], London: […] [T. Scarlet] for Cuthbert Burby, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene v] ↗:

     [B]ehold the wretched price of Wales, / Hoopt with a bond of yron round about, […]

3. (intransitive, slang) To play basketball.
   • 2019, Charley Rosen, Trouthe, Lies, and Basketball:

     Instead of hooping, they now played tennis, golf, or both.

hoop (plural hoops)

1. A shout; a whoop, as in whooping cough.
2. (archaic) The hoopoe.

hoop (hoops, present participle hooping; simple past and past participle hooped)

1. (dated) To utter a loud cry, or a sound imitative of the word, by way of call or pursuit; to shout.
2. (dated) To whoop, as in whooping cough.

hoop (plural hoops)

1. (soccer) someone connected with Queens Park Rangers Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.