1544–5 Paget in Waters Chesters of Chicheley (1878) I. iv. 33 Some in dede shall wynne by it, who owe more than they have here, but..dyvers others a greate nombre are like to have a great swoope by it [sc. the embargo on English goods] having much here and owing nothing or little.

1589 ‘M. Marprelate’ Hay any Worke for Cooper 11 I come vpon you..with 4. or 5. such drie soopes, as Iohn of London with his two hand sword neuer gaue the like.

1711 Z. Wylde Eng. Master of Defence 26 A Blow I call the Swoop, is made when you lie upon an outside thus, Let your Point drop Hanging-wise, and bring it round the Point of your Opponent's Sword, and Pitch it home to his Face.

1607 N. Breton Wits Private Wealth sig. C3^v The Stone and the Gowte followe the Rich, but death where he commeth makes a swoope with all persons.

1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall sig. B^v He swings and swoupes from streete to streete, With gowne that sweepes the grounde.

1597 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 1st 3 Bks. i. iii. 7 Soouping in side robes of Royalty.

1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie iii. viii. sig. G3 O now me thinks I heare swart Martius cry Souping along in warrs fain'd maskerie.

1602 2nd Pt. Returne fr. Parnassus v. i. 1965 England affordes those glorious vagabonds,..Coursers to ride on..Sooping it in their glaring Satten Sutes.

1617 Bp. J. Hall Quo Vadis? (new ed.) xii. 37 The persecutors of S. Thomas of Canterbury, whose posteritie (if we beleeue..Degrassalius) are borne with long and hairie tailes, souping after them.

1622 M. Drayton 2nd Pt. Poly-olbion xxviii. 144 And in her winding Banks along my bosome led, As shee goes swooping by.

1638 Bp. J. Wilkins Discov. New World (1640) i. xiv. 238 If there bee such a great Ruck in Madagascar..which can soope up a horse and his rider, or an elephant, as our kites doe a mouse.

a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry V lxviii, in Poems (1878) IV. 118 As ore a Hill, Where lanke-wing'd Puttocks hope to catch their Prey They hover, till it Stirre, and Swoop't away.

a1657 G. Daniel Idyllia in Poems (1878) IV. iv. 32 Though Tyranny, (big-Swolne, in all formes, Vulture or Moll) doe Swoop, or hunt out wormes.

1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing 247 The Physitian looks with another Eye on the Medicinal hearb, then the grazing Oxe, which swoops it in with the common grass.

1672 J. Dryden Conquest Granada i. i. i. 11 Till now at last you came to swoop it all.

1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 35 He [sc. the pope] would have swoop'd up the Patriarchate of Lambeth to his Mornings-draught, like an egg in Muscadine.

1678 T. Otway Friendship in Fashion v. 63 Thou shalt every morning swoop the Exchange in Triumph to see what gawdy Bawble thou canst first grow fond of.

1688 J. Bunyan Good News for Vilest of Men 95 Why the Text swoops you all... It has a particular message to the biggest sinners. I say, it swoops you all.

1818 H. H. Milman Samor iv. 681 To grapple with these vultures, whose broad vans..would swoop us.

1822 Ld. Byron Werner iii. i. 157 'Tis but a snare he winds about us both, To swoop the sire and son at once.

1837 W. Irving Adventures Capt. Bonneville I. xiii. 222 Like a hawk in a cage, who hears his late companions swooping and screaming in wild liberty above him.

1852 R. F. Burton Falconry in Valley of Indus vi. 68 Jerking the prey out of her reach as she swoops at it.

1873 W. Black Princess of Thule xxvii. 454 Sea~gulls were swooping down and around the tall masts.

1894 S. J. Weyman Under Red Robe (1897) vii. 178 The frogs croaked in the pool and a bat swooped round us in circles.

1797 A. Radcliffe Italian II. ii. 88 Those Carmelites..may swoop upon us, all of a sudden, before we can help ourselves.

1859 D. Masson Brit. Novelists i. 71 Turning over the leaves of the large folio, and swooping down on the text here and there.

1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. iii. 30 At other times a breeze would swoop down upon us.

1873 W. H. Dixon Hist. Two Queens I. viii. vii. 95 Descending from Pamplona, he could swoop on either Zaragoza or Valladolid.

1874 F. C. Burnand My Time xv. 130 She swooped down before the fire.

1884 Mahaffy in Contemp. Rev. July 89 The wild mountaineers, who used to swoop down on the rich trading cities of the coast.

a1849 J. C. Mangan Diver in Poems What in Charybdis's caverns dwells No chronicle..tells;..the shattered masts and the drifting keel Alone tell the tale of the swooper's prey.

1880 Libr. Universal Knowl. X. 496 Classification [of birds] based on Cuvier [etc.]... 1. Robbers. a. Swoopers. Eagles, hawks, vultures. b. Stealers.