2. To obstruct; to render impassable; as, to stop a way,
road, or passage.
3. To arrest the progress of; to hinder; to impede; to shut
in; as, to stop a traveler; to stop the course of a
stream, or a flow of blood.
4. To hinder from acting or moving; to prevent the effect or
efficiency of; to cause to cease; to repress; to restrain;
to suppress; to interrupt; to suspend; as, to stop the
execution of a decree, the progress of vice, the
approaches of old age or infirmity.
Whose disposition all the world well knows Will not
be rubbed nor stopped. --Shak.
5. (Mus.) To regulate the sounds of, as musical strings, by
pressing them against the finger board with the finger, or
by shortening in any way the vibrating part.
6. To point, as a composition; to punctuate. [R.]
If his sentences were properly stopped. --Landor.
7. (Naut.) To make fast; to stopper.
Syn: To obstruct; hinder; impede; repress; suppress;
restrain; discontinue; delay; interrupt.
{To stop off} (Founding), to fill (a part of a mold) with
sand, where a part of the cavity left by the pattern is
not wanted for the casting.
{To stop the mouth}. See under {Mouth}.