swoop
verb
[ swuːp ]
• (especially of a bird) move rapidly downwards through the air.
• "the barn owl can swoop down on a mouse in total darkness"
Similar:
dive,
descend,
sweep,
pounce,
drop,
plummet,
plunge,
pitch,
nosedive,
rush,
dart,
speed,
zoom,
• seize with a swooping motion.
• "she swooped up the hen in her arms"
swoop
noun
• a swooping or snatching movement or action.
• "four members were arrested following a swoop by detectives on their homes"
Origin:
mid 16th century (in the sense ‘sweep along in a stately manner’): perhaps a dialect variant of Old English swāpan (see sweep). The early sense of the noun was ‘a blow, stroke’.
