Estop

//ɪˈstɒp// verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To impede or bar by estoppel.

    "[…] we twitted them, while we were together in the sun of the Continent, about English heating habits. Having done that, we are now estopped from bringing the matter up."

  2. 2
    To stop up; to plug.

Example

More examples

"[…] we twitted them, while we were together in the sun of the Continent, about English heating habits. Having done that, we are now estopped from bringing the matter up."

Etymology

Uncertain. Traditionally derived from the rare Late Middle English estoppen (“to prevent conception”), from Anglo-Norman and Old French estoper, from a Late Latin stuppō. However, the modern senses appear rather to align more with the much commoner Middle English istoppen (“to block, obstruct, stop up, clog”), from Middle English i- (perfective prefix) + stoppen (“to block, stop”). More at stop.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.