alley oop

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French allez-hop!, the cry of a circus acrobat about to leap. From allez (go! let's go!), 2nd-person plural or formal indicative form of aller, and hop, onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

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Interjection

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alley oop!

  1. Encouraging or calling attention to a physical performance, especially one involving an upwards lift or leap.
    • 1917 September 9, B.S. Walcott, letter printed in the 6 Feb. 1918 Princeton Alumni Weekly, p. 389:
      I fortunately found a spark plug on the burn and got that repaired and alley oop!
    • 1985, Kevin Eastman & al., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Vol. I, No. 4, page 2:
      Allez--... --oop!
      Beautiful! Great flip Mike!
    • 2003, Antoinette Stockenberg, A Month at the Shore, page 185:
      Alley-oop,’ he said, and he lifted her out of her seat as easily as if she were a bag of laundry.

Synonyms

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Translations

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Adverb

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alley oop (not comparable)

  1. (rare) Synonym of up.
    • 1923 November 8, The Daily Herald, page 4:
      Down with the starched collars! Allez up with the soft!

Noun

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alley oop (plural alley oops)

  1. An instance of saying "Alley oop!"
    • 1927, Wallace Smith, Are You Decent?, page 94:
      Rollie says... we should cut out our ‘alley-oop’. He says: ‘It's vulgar, that alley-oop. Every small-time acrobat says “alley-oop”.’
  2. (US sports) A high and arcing pass, catch, or move, especially (basketball) a shot made by a player as part of the same jump used to catch a pass.

Synonyms

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  • (basketball: alley-oop play): lob jam

Translations

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Adjective

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alley oop (not comparable)

  1. (US sports) High and arcing.
    • 1957 November 4, Y.A. Tittle, Reno Evening Gazette, page 14:
      I decided to go for the Alley-Oop pass. I knew I had to lay it in the end zone, high, and I just rared back and threw as hard as I could.
    • 1959 January 21, “Oroville using ‘Alley Oop’ play”, in The Appeal–Democrat, page 6:
      The Oroville Tigers have adapted the San Francisco '49er football team's famed... play to their own use on the basketball court.
  2. (US skateboarding and snowboarding) Involving at least a 180-degree turn.

Verb

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alley oop (third-person singular simple present alley oops, present participle alley ooping, simple past and past participle alley ooped)

  1. To lift or toss upward, or to be lifted or tossed upward.
    • 2010, Mary B. Morrison, Somebody's Gotta Be On Top:
      K'Nine intentionally bounced the last shot off the edge of the rim, rebounded, dribbled between his legs for three seconds, then alley ooped to Darius.
    • 2011, Daylin Eaton, The Chronicles of Tyson Jenkins: The Witch Sisters, page 107:
      When the ball came back to Tyson, he alley ooped the ball to Larry, who layed it in.

References

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