See Also: stope(medicine)
stope(dictionary)

stope (iou)



stope noun & verb. M18.
[App. rel. to STEP noun1.]
Mining.
A. noun.
A step or notch in the side of a pit, or in an upright beam, to receive the end of a stemple or crosspiece. M18-M19.
A steplike working in the side of a pit. M18.
b. verb trans. & intrans.
Cut or excavate (mineral ground) in stopes or layer after layer; extract (ore) by this process. Also foll. by out. L18.
Geology. Of magma: make (its way) by detaching and absorbing blocks of the surrounding rock. Freq. as stoping verbal noun. E20.
stoper noun a person who stopes ore etc. L19.