Etymology
From Middle English loupe (“noose, loop”), earlier lowp-knot (“loop-knot”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hlaup (“a run”), used in the sense of a "running knot", from hlaupa (“to leap”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to leap, run”). Compare Swedish löp-knut (“loop-knot”), Danish løb-knude (“a running knot”), Danish løb (“a course”). More at leap. The verb is derived from the noun.
Noun
loop (plural loops)
- A length of thread, line or rope that is doubled over to make an opening.
- The opening so formed.
- A shape produced by a curve that bends around and crosses itself.
Arches, loops, and whorls are patterns found in fingerprints.
- A ring road or beltway.
- An endless strip of tape or film allowing continuous repetition.
1979 December 8, anonymous author, “The Small Town”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 20, page 5:He can hang out in the back room of the local adult bookstore […] and hope for a stand-up blow-job through the glory hole in the partition of the two booths that show gay loops.
- A complete circuit for an electric current.
- (programming) A programmed sequence of instructions that is repeated until or while a particular condition is satisfied.
- (graph theory) An edge that begins and ends on the same vertex.
- (topology) A path that starts and ends at the same point.
- (transport) A bus or rail route, walking route, etc. that starts and ends at the same point.
- (rail transport) A place at a terminus where trains or trams can turn round and go back the other way without having to reverse; a balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop.
2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 119:In 1908 the line was extended to a station called Wood Lane, which was built on a terminal track loop so that trains could turn round and go back the other way, [...]
- (algebra) A quasigroup with an identity element.
- A loop-shaped intrauterine device.
- An aerobatic maneuver in which an aircraft flies a circular path in a vertical plane.
- A small, narrow opening; a loophole.
c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence / The eye of Reason may pry in upon us.
- Alternative form of loup (“mass of iron”)
- (biochemistry) A flexible region in a protein's secondary structure.
- (Canada, US, dated, sports) A sports league
1963 September 27, “Italias Vie In Bayonne On Sunday”, in The Jersey Journal, page 17:Arellano formerly cavorted for the Galicias in the fast-paced National-American Soccer loop.
Translations
length of thread, line or rope
shape produced by a curve that bends around and crosses itself
- Azerbaijani: ilgək (az)
- Belarusian: пятля́ f (pjatljá)
- Catalan: bocle m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 循環/循环 (zh) (xúnhuán), 環/环 (zh) (huán)
- Danish: løkke c
- Estonian: aas (et)
- Finnish: silmukka (fi)
- French: boucle (fr) f
- Georgian: მარყუჟი (marq̇uži)
- German: Schlaufe (de) f, Schleife (de) f
- Greek: θηλιά (el) f (thiliá), βρόχος (el) m (vróchos)
- Hungarian: hurok (hu)
- Icelandic: lykkja (is) f
- Italian: passante (it) m
- Japanese: 輪 (ja) (わ, wa), ループ (ja) (rūpu)
- Latvian: cilpa (lv) f
- Maori: koropewa, koropiko, paeke
- Polish: pętla (pl) f
- Portuguese: laço (pt) m
- Russian: пе́тля́ (ru) f (pétljá)
- Scottish Gaelic: lùb f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: петља f
- Roman: petlja (sh) f
- Spanish: lazo (es) m, recodo (es) m, vuelta (es) f, círculo (es) m, bucle (es) m
- Swedish: ögla (sv) c
- Turkish: döngü (tr)
- Ukrainian: петля́ f (petljá)
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endless strip of tape or film allowing continuous repetition
complete circuit for an electric current
programmed sequence of instructions
edge that begins and ends on the same vertex of a graph
topology: path that starts and ends at the same point
transportation route that starts and ends at the same point
quasigroup with an identity element
loop-shaped intrauterine device
flexible region in a protein's secondary structure
Translations to be checked
Verb
loop (third-person singular simple present loops, present participle looping, simple past and past participle looped)
- (transitive) To form something into a loop.
- (transitive) To fasten or encircle something with a loop.
- (transitive) To fly an aircraft in a loop.
- (transitive) To move something in a loop.
- (transitive) To join electrical components to complete a circuit.
- (transitive) To duplicate the route of a pipeline.
- (transitive) To create an error in a computer program so that it runs in an endless loop and the computer freezes up.
- (intransitive) To form a loop.
- (intransitive) To move in a loop.
The program loops until the user presses a key.
2011 February 4, Gareth Roberts, “Wales 19-26 England”, in BBC:The outstanding Tom Palmer won a line-out and then charged into the heart of the Welsh defence, scrum-half Ben Youngs moved the ball swiftly right and Cueto's looping pass saw Ashton benefit from a huge overlap to again run in untouched.
- To place in a loop.
2021 January 13, Richard Clinnick, “Longer freight trains boost efficiency and reduce carbon”, in Rail, page 10:It found that trains often looped on their journey emit 14% to 20% more NOx and particulates than non-stop services.
- (education, transitive, intransitive) To have the teacher progress through multiple school years with the same students.
2003, Lisa Lynn Snyder, An Investigation of Elementary Looping Practices and Outcomes in a Rural School District, page 54:Tolland Middle School in Connecticut where close to four hundred middle school students participated in looping, students from looped classroom structures scored much higher than students from prior years without the looped structure on standardized tests in mathematics and writing.
Derived terms
Terms derived from loop (verb)
Translations
to fasten or encircle with a rope
to fly an aircraft in a loop
transitive: to move in a loop
to duplicate the route of a pipeline
to create an endless loop in a computer program
to create an error in a computer program so that it runs in an endless loop
intransitive: to move in a loop
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.