Definition of "coop" []

• An enclosure or cage, as for poultry or small animals. (noun)
• Slang An uncomfortably confined space. (noun)
• Slang A prison. (noun)
• To confine in or as if in a coop. Often used with up. See Synonyms at enclose. (verb-transitive)
• Informal To sleep or shirk in a parked patrol car while on duty. Used of a police officer. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But use co-op as a short form for cooperative to distinguish it from the word coop."
• "When the boy had lifted up our mansion (which he called a coop), mother-hen started at once on a journey round the world."
• "[By the way, "coop" is a reference to the Oklahoma farming co-operative which self-markets locally grown produce.]"