stop
stɑːp
Quitting smoking and a bus pulling in are the same picture
The picture Something that was rolling along cannot go any further and its feet stick to that spot. STOP is a running movement cut off; START is a still thing beginning to move.
Where the picture shows up in stop
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something moving pulls up
The bus stops in front of the hospital.
ðə bʌs stɑːps ɪn frʌnt əv ðə ˈhɑːspɪtl
That bus pulls in at the hospital.
A rolling bus brings its wheels to rest under the hospital sign and opens its door
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a working thing dies
My watch stopped at three.
maɪ wɑːtʃ stɑːpt ət θriː
My watch died at three o'clock.
The ticking second hand gets no further than the figure three and sits frozen there
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a habit is cut off
I stopped smoking last year.
aɪ stɑːpt ˈsmoʊkɪŋ læst jɪr
I quit smoking last year.
A cigarette held every day is crushed out for the last time and the hand never reaches again
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a flow is blocked
Put a towel here to stop the leak.
pʊt ə ˈtaʊəl hɪr tə stɑːp ðə liːk
Hold a towel here to block the leak.
Cloth is pressed in front of falling water and the water can go no further
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a pause on the way
Can we stop at the pharmacy?
kæn wiː stɑːp ət ðə ˈfɑːrməsi
Could we pull in at the pharmacy?
The car is brought to the curb outside the pharmacy halfway through the trip
All of it in one picture
Stop is one picture: a movement that was going is cut off right there. Rolling wheels go still and the bus has stopped; a second hand freezes and the watch has stopped. A hand that reached for a cigarette every day stops reaching and the habit has stopped, and cloth held in front of running water stops the leak. Pulling the car in halfway down the road is the same cut - a stop on the way.