noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A plug; a stopper.
2. 2
   blockage consisting of an object designed to fill a hole tightly wordnet
3. 3
   A projection or lid in a pollen grain that falls away to allow the passage of the pollen tube.

Verb

1. 1
   To plug; to stop up. transitive

   "Shut your mouth, dame, / Or with this paper shall I stopple it."

2. 2
   close or secure with or as if with a stopper wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

plugstopperbarbindblockblock up

Example

More examples

"Shut your mouth, dame, / Or with this paper shall I stopple it."

Etymology

From Middle English stopple, stoppel, stoppell, from Old French estopail, estopaille. By surface analysis, stop + -le.

Related phrases

stop up

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