To stop means to cease moving or doing something. When a car stops at a red light, it comes to a complete halt. When you stop talking, you become quiet. When rain stops falling, the sky clears.

The word describes both ending motion and ending action. A train stops at a station. A clock stops ticking when its battery dies. You stop reading when you close your book. In each case, something that was happening is no longer happening.

You can also stop someone else from doing something. A teacher might stop students from running in the hallways. A goalie stops the soccer ball from entering the net. Parents stop their toddler from touching a hot stove.

A stop is also a place where something pauses: a bus stop is where passengers get on and off. The phrase pull out all the stops means to make every possible effort, using everything available to succeed.

When someone tells you to stop it, they want you to quit whatever you're doing immediately. And when something comes to a stop, it gradually ends, like a spinning top that finally wobbles and falls over.