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-oopverb, 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
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