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

Wembanyama blocked Kris Dunn’s reverse layup, creating a fast break that ended with an alley-oop dunk by Carter Bryant. —Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2026

As a redshirt freshman in 2023-24, Evers caught an alley-oop for a basket against Oklahoma State. —Gary Bedore march 6, Kansas City Star, 6 Mar. 2026

Jokic has fed him hundreds of alley-oops late in games when Gordon has lurked in the short corner, behind the last line of defense. —Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 6 Mar. 2026

In the fourth quarter, Wembanyama blocked Cunningham's running floater then ran downcourt for an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Devin Vassell to give the Spurs a 103-90 lead. —CBS News, 6 Mar. 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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