noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A valve, tap or faucet which regulates the flow of liquid or gas through a pipe.
2. 2
   faucet consisting of a rotating device for regulating flow of a liquid wordnet
3. 3
   A main shutoff for water to a home from a municipal supply. Usually these valves exist in pairs, one outside the property boundary and one inside the property boundary. British

   "If you have a burst pipe, turn the water off at the stopcock."

Verb

1. 1
   To control the gas pressure in (an oil well) by keeping the well closed in and the gas confined except during set intervals when the oil is flowed or pumped. transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms

cockfaucetgatehydrantsea cockspigot

Example

More examples

"If you have a burst pipe, turn the water off at the stopcock."

Etymology

From stop + cock.

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