alley-oop

noun

al·​ley-oop ˌa-lē-ˈyüp 

plural alley-oops

1

basketball : a play in which a leaping player catches a pass above the basket and immediately dunks the ball

The meeting of man and ball was dazzling, the two handed alley-oop slam-dunk spectacular.

—Shelly Smith

also : the usually high, arcing pass thrown on such a play

He threw an alley-oop to George Lynch on a fast break …

—The New York Times

2

American football : a play in which the quarterback throws a high, arcing pass into the end zone to be caught by a leaping receiver

Quarterback Moore hooked up with receiver Moore on one of their patented alley-oops to make the score 20-7.

—Austin Murphy

also : the pass itself

… an alley-oop pass to Chandler from Manning gave the Saints a 13-7 lead.

—Larry McMillen

… he … tossed an alley-oop to Tate Casey for the first touchdown pass of his college career.

—USA Today

alley-oop verb, transitive + intransitive

alley-ooped; alley-ooping; alley-oops

… they dribbled around us, passed behind their backs, and alley-ooped for a bunch of slam dunks.

—D. J. MacHale

Rob alley-ooped the ball toward the basket.

—Stanley Gordon West

On the opening drive of the third quarter, Flacco basically alley-ooped a pass from the 7, and Heap outmuscled safety Tyrone Carter for the ball in the rear right corner of the end zone.

—Edward Lee

Examples of alley-oop in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The tone was set for his highlight reel performance with an early alley-oop pass to Victor Wembanyama, followed by an open 3-pointer on the wing and a two-handed slam over Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels. —Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 16 May 2026

Dybantsa powering down the right lane for a vicious dunk after a long Haliburton outlet pass; Boozer catching a pass from Haliburton in the seam before firing a perfect alley-oop to Zubac; Peterson carrying the offense for stretches as the second-leading scorer behind Pascal Siakam. —Jay King, New York Times, 13 May 2026

In the second quarter, Bridges found Mitchell Robinson for an emphatic alley-oop dunk. —Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 1 May 2026

Bronny James, in nine minutes, outscored the Rockets’ bench 5-3 with a 3-pointer and an alley-oop off a feed from his father in the second quarter. —Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 25 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

alteration of allez-oop, cry of a circus acrobat about to leap, probably from French allez, 2nd person plural imperative of aller to go + English -oop, perhaps alteration of up

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for alley-oop

• intergroup
• intragroup
• multigroup
• semigroup
• serogroup
• supergroup
• coop
• coupe
• croup
• droop
• drupe
• dupe

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