1560s, "to move or walk in a stately manner," apparently from a dialectal survival of Old English swapan "to sweep, brandish, dash," from Proto-Germanic *swaip-, from PIE root *swei- (2) "to bend, turn" (see swivel (n.)). Meaning "pounce upon with a sweeping movement" first recorded 1630s (see swoop (n.)). Spelling with -oo- may have been influenced by Scottish and northern England dialectal soop "to sweep," from Old Norse sopa "to sweep." Related: Swooped; swooping.
swoop (n.)
1540s, "a blow, stroke," from swoop (v.). Meaning "the sudden pouncing of a rapacious bird on its prey" is 1605, from Shakespeare:
Oh, Hell-Kite! All? What, All my pretty Chickens, and their Damme, At one fell swoope? ["Macbeth," IV.iii.219]
例文
1. The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop .
トビは中空を旋回し、急降下の準備をしている。
2.The plane made a swoop over the city.
その飛行機は突然この町に向かって急落した。
3.In one fell swoop the bank wiped away the tentative benefits of this policy.
銀行はこの政策が一時的にもたらした利益を一気に抹殺した。
4.Police held 10 suspected illegal immigrants after a swoop on a German lorry.
警察はドイツのトラックを突撃捜索した後、10人の不審な不法移民を抑留した。
5.It seemed that the plane was going to swoop down and strafe the town，so we dived for cover.