means A small staircase or raised platform with steps leading up to the entrance of a house or building, especially common on row houses and brownstones.

from From the Dutch 'stoep,' meaning a step or front porch — a word the Dutch settlers carried to New Amsterdam (later New York), where the raised entryways suited a city built on low, flood-prone land. The term took root in American English and stayed planted on the East Coast, where 'sitting on the stoop' became a whole way of life. Worth noting: this 'stoop' is unrelated to the verb 'stoop' (to bend low), which descends instead from Old English 'stupian.'