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LOOP

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 990 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LOOP . (I) A See also:

curve or See also:bend, particularly a bend in a See also:string, rope, &c., formed by doubling back one See also:part so as to leave an opening; similarly a See also:ring of See also:metal or other material leaving an See also:aperture. (2) In See also:architecture or fortification, " loop," more usually in the See also:form " loophole," is an opening in the See also:wall of a See also:building, very narrow on the outside and splayed within, from which arrows or darts might be discharged on an enemy, or through which See also:light might be admitted. They are often in the form of a See also:cross, and generally have See also:round holes at the ends (see See also:OILLETS). (3) The word is also a See also:term in See also:iron and See also:steel manufacturing for a See also:mass of metal ready for hammering or See also:rolling, a " See also:bloom." This last word is represented in See also:French by loupe, from which it is probably adapted. The earlier See also:English form was also loupe, and it was also applied to See also:precious stones which were of inferior brilliancy; the same also appears in French. Of the word in its two first meanings, a bend or circle in a See also:line of string, metal, rails, &c., and " loophole," the derivation is uncertain. See also:Skeat takes the word in both meanings to be the same and to be of Scandinavian origin, the old See also:Norwegian hlaup, a leap, being the See also:direct source. The See also:base is the See also:Teutonic hlaufan, to run, to leap, See also:German laufen. The New English See also:Dictionary considers the See also:Swedish example, lop-knut, " See also:running See also:knot," and others given by Skeat in support of his derivation to be German-isms, and also that the See also:pronunciation of the word would have been lowp rather than See also:lap. " Loop " in meaning (2) " loophole " is also taken to be a different word, and is derived from Dutch luipen, to peer, See also:watch. In See also:modern Dutch the word for a narrow opening is gluip.

2 Dunn and Saxby, however, agree in giving " See also:

rain-See also:goose " as the name of the See also:species in See also:Scotland.

End of Article: LOOP

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