loop

A length of thread, line or rope that is doubled over to make an opening.

Noun

  1. A length of thread, line or rope that is doubled over to make an opening.
  2. The opening so formed.
  3. A shape produced by a curve that bends around and crosses itself.
    • Arches, loops, and whorls are patterns found in fingerprints.
  4. A process that returns to its beginning and then repeats itself in the same sequence.
    • feedback loop
    • time loop
    • An online feed that constantly “refills” manipulates the brain’s dopaminergic reward system in a similar way. These powerful dopamine-driven loops of endless “seeking” can become addictive. - 2024 December 9, Siân...

    Synonyms: cycle

  5. A ring road or beltway.
  6. An endless strip of tape or film allowing continuous repetition.
    • He can hang out in the back room of the local adult bookstore […] and hope for a stand-up blow-job through the glory hole in the partition of the two booths that show gay loops. - 1979 December 8, anonymous author, “The...
  7. A complete circuit for an electric current.
  8. A programmed sequence of instructions that is repeated until or while a particular condition is satisfied.
  9. An edge that begins and ends on the same vertex.
  10. A path that starts and ends at the same point.
  11. A bus or rail route, walking route, etc. that starts and ends at the same point.
  12. A place at a terminus where trains or trams can turn round and go back the other way without having to reverse; a balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop.
    • In 1908 the line was extended to a station called Wood Lane, which was built on a terminal track loop so that trains could turn round and go back the other way, [...] - 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A...

Origin

From Middle English loupe (“noose, loop”), earlier lowp-knot (“loop-knot”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hlaup (“a run”), used in the sense of a "running knot", from hlaupa (“to leap”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to leap, run”). Compare Swedish löp-knut (“loop-knot”), Danish løb-knude (“a running knot”), Danish løb (“a course”). More at leap. The verb is derived from the noun.

Forms

loops

Hypernyms

control structure

Hyponyms

balloon loop crossing loop endless loop event loop feedback loop for loop hanging loop infinite loop inside loop main loop message loop passing loop platform loop read-eval-print loop reconciliation loop reversing loop run loop self-loop span loop tight loop while loop

Related

hook-and-loop hook-and-loop fastener in the loop knock for a loop loop antenna loop the loop out of the loop time-loop logic

Derived

A-B loop adjustable loop afferent loop syndrome angler's loop artillery loop autoloop autoregulatory loop belt loop blind loop syndrome boot loop busy loop causal loop causal loop paradox closed loop closed time loop close the loop coloop compulsion loop core loop crossed loop sensor cryoloop death loop do loop doom loop

Verb

  1. To form something into a loop.
  2. To fasten or encircle something with a loop.
  3. To fly an aircraft in a loop.
  4. To move something in a loop.
  5. To play something (such as a song or video) in a loop.
  6. To join electrical components to complete a circuit.
  7. To duplicate the route of a pipeline.
  8. To create an error in a computer program so that it runs in an endless loop and the computer freezes up.
  9. To form a loop.
  10. To move in a loop.
    • The program loops until the user presses a key.
    • The outstanding Tom Palmer won a line-out and then charged into the heart of the Welsh defence, scrum-half Ben Youngs moved the ball swiftly right and Cueto's looping pass saw Ashton benefit from a huge overlap to again...
  11. To place in a loop.
    • It found that trains often looped on their journey emit 14% to 20% more NOx and particulates than non-stop services. - 2021 January 13, Richard Clinnick, “Longer freight trains boost efficiency and reduce carbon”, in...
  12. To have the teacher progress through multiple school years with the same students.
    • Tolland Middle School in Connecticut where close to four hundred middle school students participated in looping, students from looped classroom structures scored much higher than students from prior years without the...

Forms

loops looping looped

Derived

loopable loopback loop in loop off loop the loop loop up on loop