droop

Etymology

From Middle English droupen, from Old Norse drúpa (“to droop”), from Proto-Germanic *drūpaną, *drupōną (“to hang down, drip, drop”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewb- (“to drip, drop”).

verb

1. (intransitive) To hang downward; to sag.
   On the brown harvest tree Droops the red cherry. 1866, John Keegan Casey, “Maire My Girl”, in A Wreath of Shamrocks, Dublin: Robert S. McGee, page 20
   Long before Shap platform showed up around a corner and the two arms on the gradient post drooped in both directions at once, Duchess of Buccleuch's amiable throbbing purr at the stack [funnel, chimney] had become a fierce freight-engine bark, as she resolutely dragged at her enormous load. 1949 January and February, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–1”, in Railway Magazine, page 12
   a. 1992, quote attributed to Sylvester Stallone I'm not handsome in the classical sense. The eyes droop, the mouth is crooked, the teeth aren't straight, the voice sounds like a Mafioso pallbearer, but somehow it all works.
2. (intransitive) To slowly become limp; to bend gradually.
   The Grapes that on it hung were black, and all The Vines supported and from drooping staid With silver Props, that down they could not fall […] 1676, Thomas Hobbes, transl., Homer’s Iliads in English, London: William Crook, Book 18, p. 289
   Others who conscientiously attended the Technical College at night often drooped over their desks in a doze, and one does not wonder at it. 1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 285
   His head had drooped with his hair across his face. 2010, john g rees, Halocline
   She was trying to hang in, but her chin was drooping onto her chest. 2012, Howie Carr, Hard Knocks
3. (intransitive) To lose all energy, enthusiasm or happiness; to flag.
   Amidst the peaceful Triumphs of his Reign, What wonder if the kindly beams he shed Reviv’d the drooping Arts again […] 1685, John Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis, London: Jacob Tonson, XII, p. 17
4. (transitive) To allow to droop or sink.
   1892, Arthur Christopher Benson, “Knapweed” in Le Cahier Jaune: Poems, Eton: privately printed, p. 62, Down in the mire he droops his head; Forgotten, not forgiven.
5. To proceed downward, or toward a close; to decline.

noun

1. Something which is limp or sagging.
2. A condition or posture of drooping.
   He walked with a discouraged droop.
3. (aviation) A hinged portion of the leading edge of an aeroplane's wing, which swivels downward to increase lift during takeoff and landing.