mop

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) An implement for washing floors or similar, made of a piece of cloth, or a collection of thrums, or coarse yarn, fastened to a handle.
2. (countable, uncountable) A wash with a mop; the act of mopping.
3. (countable, humorous, uncountable) A dense head of hair.
4. (British, West-Midlands, countable, dialectal, uncountable) An annual fair where servants were historically hired.
5. (British, countable, obsolete, uncountable) A tassel worn in a buttonhole to indicate ones occupation in such a fair.
6. (Multicultural-London-English, countable, slang, uncountable) A firearm particularly if it has a large magazine (compare broom, but still can be related to MP)
7. (slang, uncountable) Fellatio.
8. (countable, uncountable) A squeezable high-flow paint marker with an extra-wide felt or foam tip.
9. (countable, uncountable) A row of ropes dragged along the seabed for catching starfish.
10. (countable, slang, uncountable) A drunkard.

Verb

1. (transitive) To rub, scrub, clean or wipe with a mop, or as if with a mop.
2. (US, slang) To shoplift.

Verb

To make a wry expression with the mouth.

Synonyms

swab

wipe

scrub

swob

mow

mop up

pout

😡

clean

wash

🧽

brush

sponge

🧽

broom

🧹

wipe up

rub

sieve

soak up

sponge up

sweeper

wipe off

malkin

shock of hair

swab down

slag bridge

buffing roll

dusting roll

absorb

esponjar

dry

dust

engross

fuzz

grimace

imbibe

mane

occlude

pucker

purse

👛

rag

rub off

shag

Translations

fregona

Mopp

spazzolone

Mop

esfregão

serpillière

σφουγγαρίστρα

lavare

🧽

esfregar

pulire

σφουγγαρίζω

tignasse

pal de fregar

zwabber

Pronounced as (IPA)

/mɒp/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: mappe

Cognate with Hebrew: מַפָּה

Inherited from Middle English: moppe

Cognate with Low German: mop

Cognate with Dutch: mop

In summary

From Middle English mappe (also as mappel), perhaps borrowed from Walloon mappe (“napkin”), from Latin mappa (“napkin, cloth”). Believed to be from a Semitic source, variously claimed as Phoenician or Punic (the latter by Quintilian). Compare Modern Hebrew מַפָּה (mapá, “a map; a cloth”) (shortened from מַנְפָּה (manpah, “fluttering banner, streaming cloth”)). Doublet of map, nape, and nappe.