Hoovering
Sucking a person back into a relationship
Example
It's so clear that Kevin is hoovering Stacy, but she doesn't see it
Yeah, she's way too loyal and easy to manipulate
When your partner is hoovering you
Related Slang
| Gaslighting | Manipulating information to create doubt |
| Ghostlighting | Stop communicating with someone and pretend like you don't know him |
| Zombieing | Returning to someone you left abruptly and acting like you mutually ended it |
| Haunting | Following a romantic partner on social media after abruptly leaving them |
| Orbiting | Following someone on social media without direct interaction |
| Love bombing | Bombarding someone with acts of adoration |
| Stashing | Dating a person but unwilling to publicly acknowledge it |
| Roaching | Secretly dating many romantic partners at the same time |
| Breadcrumbing | Leading someone on romantically |
| Submarining | Dating a person, disappearing, then reappearing |
| Caspering | Ending a relationship in a friendly, but confusing way |
Baseball Slang Quiz: Can you bat 1.000?
Hoovering is when a person manipulates their partner to stay in a romantic relationship that they want to leave. The name comes from "Hoover," a popular vacuum brand name because the hooverer ([sp?|sp]) is sucking their partner back into the relationship.
Who typically hoovers?
People guilty of hoovering typically have narcissistic tendencies, where they think highly of themselves, display little empathy towards others, and want control in the relationship. When their partner makes it clear that they want out of the relationship, they start hoovering to maintain control.
Examples of hoovering
When a partner makes it clear they want to break up, a hooverer may plead to stay together and bombard the partner with love bombing tactics. Even after breaking up, a hooverer may surprise you with random visits, give overdue apologies, or attempt to contact you through friends or family. A hooverer may also threaten themselves with self-harm.