stoop

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A small porch, platform, or staircase leading to the entrance of a house or building.
• intransitive verb To bend forward and down from the waist or the middle of the back.
• intransitive verb To stand or walk, especially habitually, with the head and upper back bent forward.
• intransitive verb To lower or debase oneself.
• intransitive verb To descend from a superior social position; condescend.
• intransitive verb To swoop down, as a bird in pursuing its prey.
• intransitive verb To bend (oneself, the head, or the body) forward and down.
• intransitive verb To debase; humble.
• noun The act of stooping.
• noun A forward bending of the head and upper back, especially when habitual.
• noun An act of self-abasement or condescension.
• noun A descent, as of a bird of prey.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun An uncovered platform before the entrance of a house, raised, and approached by means of steps. Sometimes incorrectly used for porch or veranda.
• noun A drinking-vessel; a beaker; a flagon; a tankard; a pitcher.
• noun Hence Liquor for drinking, especially wine, considered as the contents of a stoop: as, he tossed off his stoop.
• noun A basin for holy water, usuallyplaced in a niche or against the wall or a pillar at the entrance of Roman Catholic churches: also used in private houses.
• noun The act of stooping or bending down; hence, a habitual bend of the back or shoulders: as, to walk with a stoop.
• noun The darting down of a bird on its prey; a swoop; a pounce.
• noun Hence That which stoops or swoops; a hawk.
• noun A descent from superiority, dignity, or power; a condescension, concession, or submission: as, a politic stoop.
• noun The stock or stem, as of a tree; the stump.
• noun A post or pillar; specifically, an upright post used to mark distance, etc., on a racecourse.
• noun An upright support; a prop or column; specifically, in coal-mining, a pillar of coal left to support the roof.
• noun Figuratively, a sustainer; a patron.
• To bend; bow; incline; especially, of persons, to lower the body by bending forward and downward.
• To be bent or inclined from the perpendicular; specifically, to carry the head and shoulders habitually bowed forward from the upright line of the rest of the body.
• To come down; descend.
• Specifically, to swoop upon prey or quarry, as a hawk; pounce.
• To condescend; deign: especially expressing a lowering of the moral self, and generally followed by an infinitive or the proposition to.
• To yield; submit; succumb.
• To bend downward; bow.
• To incline; tilt: as, to stoop a cask.
• To bring or take down; lower, as a flag or a sail.
• To put down; abase; submit; subject.
• To cast down; prostrate; overthrow; overcome.
• To swoop or pounce down upon.
• To steep; macerate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun Prov. Eng. A post fixed in the earth.
• noun (Arch.), United States Originally, a covered porch with seats, at a house door; the Dutch stoep as introduced by the Dutch into New York. Afterward, an out-of-door flight of stairs of from seven to fourteen steps, with platform and parapets, leading to an entrance door some distance above the street; the French perron. Hence, any porch, platform, entrance stairway, or small veranda, at a house door.
• noun The act of stooping, or bending the body forward; inclination forward; also, an habitual bend of the back and shoulders.
• noun Descent, as from dignity or superiority; condescension; an act or position of humiliation.
• noun The fall of a bird on its prey; a swoop.
• intransitive verb To bend the upper part of the body downward and forward; to bend or lean forward; to incline forward in standing or walking; to assume habitually a bent position.
• intransitive verb To yield; to submit; to bend, as by compulsion; to assume a position of humility or subjection.
• intransitive verb To descend from rank or dignity; to condescend.
• intransitive verb To come down as a hawk does on its prey; to pounce; to souse; to swoop.
• intransitive verb To sink when on the wing; to alight.