[hoop, hoo
p] 
| 1. | a circular band or ring of metal, wood, or other stiff material. |
| 2. | such a band for holding together the staves of a cask, tub, etc. |
| 3. | a large ring of iron, wood, plastic, etc., used as a plaything for a child to roll along the ground. |
| 4. | a circular or ringlike object, part, figure, etc. |
| 5. | the shank of a finger ring. |
| 6. | Croquet. a wicket. |
| 7. | a circular band of stiff material used to expand and display a woman's skirt. |
| 8. | hoop skirt. |
| 9. | Basketball Informal.
|
| 10. | a decorative band, as around a mug or cup. |
| 11. | hoop iron. |
| 12. | to bind or fasten with or as if with a hoop or hoops. |
| 13. | to encircle; surround. |
| 1. | a woman's skirt made to stand out and drape in a stiff bell-like shape from the waist by an undergarment framework of flexible hoops connected by tapes. |
| 2. | the framework for such a skirt. |
| hoop (hōōp, hŏŏp) n.
[Middle English hop.] |
hoop
circular toy adaptable to many games, children's and adults', probably the most ubiquitous of the world's toys, after the ball. The ancient Greeks advocated hoop rolling as a beneficial exercise for those not very strong. It was also used as a toy by both Greek and Roman children, as graphic representations indicate. Most of these ancient hoops were of metal. Most later hoops were of wood, though occasionally fitted with metal tires, as in the hoop-rolling-fad days of 19th-century England and the United States. North American Indians used the hoop as a target in teaching accuracy of throwing to the young. Adult Eskimos played a game that involved throwing poles through a rolling hoop.
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