swoop

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
swoop/swuːp/

▶verb

• 1 (especially of a bird) move rapidly downwards through the air.

  ■ carry out a sudden raid.

• 2 informal seize with a sweeping motion.

▶noun an act of swooping.

– phrases
at (or in) one fell swoop see fell4.

– origin C16 (in the sense ‘sweep along in a stately manner’): perh. a dial. var. of OE swāpan (see sweep).