Bent the upper body forward and downward, or lowered oneself morally or in dignity by doing something shameful or unworthy.
From Old English 'stupian,' meaning to bend or crouch. The word has maintained both its physical meaning (bending the body) and acquired a metaphorical moral meaning (lowering oneself in character) since the 14th century.
The metaphor of 'stooping' to do something wrong is so embedded in English that we rarely notice it—we physically associate moral downfall with physical descent. Shakespeare used this constantly, and it reveals how deeply our language ties bodily position to ethical status, a metaphor so ancient we don't even recognize it as metaphorical.
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